Star-Crossed Lovers
by scorpclaw
Summary: Espio feels like Vector is becoming lazy and is simply letting Team Chaotix deteriorate. When he told Vector, Vector decided to make it up to him by being a more active person of the Team. Can he keep his promise? Contains Vecpio yaoi.
1. Chaotic Renovations

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 1 – Chaotic Renovations

It was a normal evening in the Team Chaotix home. Vector was chilling on the couch, watching TV on his brand new television and Charmy was buzzing around in his room, trying to find something better to do. Espio, however, wasn't anywhere around the home at the moment. He had been leaving the house a lot lately during the evening, and Vector has caught him once coming back into the house later in the night. Vector didn't like it that he stayed outside for so late, but he didn't question why he did it.

Until this evening.

Charmy came flying out of his bedroom and headed into the den where Vector was TV. Charmy, out of slight boredom, asked him, "Hey Vector, do you know where Espio is? I wanted to know if he wanted to play with me."

Vector continued watching the television for a couple of seconds and then muted it using the remote control. "I wish I could tell you, Charmy, but Espio has been sneaking out of the house a lot lately, and he goes somewhere at night without telling me."

"Hmm… that's weird."

"Yeah, I'm going to confront him one of these days and ask what his problem is."

"Yeah."

"And besides, it's late. Aren't you tired or something?"

"Not really." Charmy yawned. "I just need to rest my eyes for a little bit."

"Get to bed, Charmy. You can ask Espio to play with you in the morning if you want to."

Charmy yawned. "Don't worry, I'm fine. I'll be fully energized in just a minute, just you wait." Charmy then flew out of the room and into his own, closing the door behind him.

"Man, Charmy needs to know his limits. He can't stay awake nearly as long as I can."

Vector unmated his television and continued to watch it for several more hours.

At around 1 PM, Vector was beginning to get a little tired, but he tried to keep himself awake. Espio hasn't exactly been himself around Vector lately, and Vector wanted to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. He just didn't want to think that Espio was upset with him and had intentions of leaving. After Mighty left, Vector would not be able to take another person leaving the team.

Thirty minutes passed, and Vector was about to give up and go to bed. But, that's when he heard a very faint sound coming from the entrance of the home. The den was between the door and Espio's room, so Espio would have to go past there eventually.

It took a lot of close listening, but Vector was about to hear very faint footsteps go past the den. Espio was clearly invisible and was trying to tread on the floor stealthily. Unfortunately for him, the floor was made out of wood and was quite squeaky.

Vector muted the television again and cleared his throat really loudly. "Espio, I know you're there, and I know you're invisible. Please, just come inside."

Vector then heard a slight sigh and then, at the door to the den, Espio appeared. He entered and stood in front of Vector, crossing his arms. "You want to talk about something?"

"Yes, I do. Espio, is it really necessary for you to be sneaking around the house at 1:30 in the morning?"

"Is it really necessary for you to be up this late watching television?"

"I'm up this late because I was waiting for you."

"Really? Because it seems like that TV of yours has been your highest priority lately."

"Why would you say that Espio?"

"Vector, I have been observing you. I have always been observing you. In fact, I am observing you right now."

"Your point?"

"Ever since you have called me in here, you have turned your head approximately 14 times to see what was on the TV screen. Judging by the way you were about to fidget your head in that direction again, I can assume that I can make that count 15."

Vector then stopped for a moment and thought about what Espio had just said. He didn't even realize that he was so distracted. "Is the TV why you've been sneaking out at night?"

"No, but it is apart of the problem. You don't spend a lot of time with me or Charmy, and you don't do a whole lot of detective work anymore either. I'm pretty sure we are called 'Team Chaotix', not 'Sit-around-and-do-nothing Chaotix'."

"Oh… I had no idea that that was such an issue for you."

"Well, it is. And if it continues, then there is no reason for me to stick around. If you want to fix Team Chaotix, then fix it. Or I'm leaving."

That last line put Vector into perspective. Normally he was the big boss that shows how the entire team will be ran, but now he was being controlled by Espio. It wasn't until then that he realized he relied heavily on Espio as both a team member, and as a friend.

Espio was about to walk out of the room, but Vector grabbed his arm and pulled him back. Vector turned off the TV, the only light in the room, leaving them in darkness. He then pulled Espio in for a hug.

"I'm sorry, Espio. I guess I haven't been a good boss… or a good friend. Can we start from scratch or something? I don't think I would be capable another team member, especially somebody as important as you are."

If the lights were on, Vector would've noticed that Espio cheeks were turning a little pink. "It's alright, Vector." The two of them separated from their hug. Although the room was dark, they could faintly see the outlines of each other. "Why don't we get some sleep? It's been a long night."

"Alright, good night, Espio."

"Good night, Vector."

Vector then heard the floorboards squeak as Espio walked out of the room. After he heard Espio's door close, Vector exited the den and went into his own room, closing the door behind him. He slipped into his bed and took off his headphones and placed them on the adjacent desk. He then shut his eyes and fell asleep.

The next morning, Espio woke up to the smell of something unusual. In fact, he actually thought that something smelled pretty good in the house, which wasn't normal.

He got out of bed and opened his door, which intensified the smell even more. Espio followed the scent to the kitchen, and saw that Vector was wearing some crude apron making something on the stove.

"Morning, heavy sleeper. I never thought I would see the day that I wake up before you."

"Vector, what are you doing?"

"I'm cooking breakfast for you guys. It's almost done so go get Charmy from his room and sit at the table."

"Uh… alright." Espio went away properly, trying to shake away the grogginess in his eyes. Whenever he left the house to avoid Vector's ignorance, he normally would come back to the house at around midnight to go to bed, but when he came back at nearly 2:00 last night, it left him pretty tired.

Espio knocked on Charmy's door and he heard Charmy say from the other side, "Yes?"

"Charmy, Vector cooked breakfast for us. Come sit at the table and eat with us."

Charmy opened the door and flew out of the room. "Vector making food for us? Espio, you might want to check if it's poisoned or not."

"Charmy, Vector did something nice for you, so what do you say?"

"Thank you, Vector," Charmy said in a low, nonchalant voice.

"You're welcome, Charmy. Now sit down and I'll get you two a plate of pancakes."

Espio and Charmy grabbed a seat from their small circular table and sat down and waited patiently for Vector to prepare their meal.

Espio then said, "Vector, I didn't know you could cook."

"Yes, and there's a very good reason why I don't talk about my cooking that much."

"Why," Charmy asked. "Is it because your mom is the one who taught you when you were, like, 5."

Espio chuckled to himself and Vector's cheeks went pink. "Espio, don't listen to that brat. He doesn't know nothing."

Espio laughed a little harder. "No, I believe that Charmy knows exactly what he is talking about. But you're making breakfast for us, and I am grateful. So it wouldn't be right to make fun of you, right Charmy?"

"Right, I guess."

Vector chuckled briefly to himself. "Heh, thanks Espio. The things me and my mom do should be kept a secret, you know?"

"Yeah."

Vector then grabbed a few plates and placed one in front of Charmy, one in front of Espio, and then one in front of an empty chair where Vector would be sitting. Each plate had a stack of three pancakes on them, and they all looked delicious to both Espio and Charmy.

He put a bottle of syrup in between the two of them, and they were ready to dig in. Charmy ate so fast that it looked like he was about to choke while Espio ate his pancakes slowly and properly, as a shinobi ninja should.

As Vector sat down at the table, he said, "Charmy, slow down. Your stomach's going explode if you keep going that fast."

Charmy, with food in his mouth, said, "But they're soooo good." Soon after, though, Charmy was quick to stop eating and quickly clenched his stomach. He looked uncomfortable and his face was turning a little pale. "I don't feel so good anymore."

Espio got up from the table and walked over to Charmy and picked him up. "You should've heeded Vector's warning." Espio then lightly tickled Charmy's stomach. "Now you have a _tummy_ ache." Charmy giggled lightly.

"I'm going to take you over to your bed. You lay there until the pain goes away. You can eat your pancakes later." Espio then entered Charmy's dirty disheveled room, and gently placed him on his bed as if he were placing a baby in a cradle. He then exited the room and went back to the kitchen table.

Vector smiled when Espio sat back down. "You treat Charmy as if he is your own child."

"He might as well be my own child," Espio replied. "He's been in this team since he was so young, and you're not around enough to exactly take care of him."

"You make it sound like you're still upset about last night."

"Well I was… but seeing you and these pancakes, it makes me think that you're actually trying to change. You did it so quickly."

Vector then sat next to Espio with his own plate of pancakes and said, "Yeah, after you threatened to leave last night, I thought that I should probably change myself a little bit. So these pancakes are going to be first of the things that I'm going to do to make sure that everything here is the way you want them to be."

Espio smiled and blushed a little bit, trying not to make the blush noticeable. "I didn't know that I meant so much to you. I guess I should be… flattered."

Vector laughed lightly to himself. "Yeah, I guess you should be a little flattered. That was a little bit of what I wanted to do."

Espio kept his smile. "Thanks." Espio finished his last bite of his pancakes and then went to place his plate into the sink. "I'm going to check on Charmy now. Hopefully he is feeling better now."

"Okay. Tell him his pancakes are still here if he wants them."

"I will."

As Espio exited the kitchen, Vector could help but examine his body as he smoothly moved his body. He saw that Espio had a very slight sway in his hips when he walked, and he thought it was pretty cute.

He wouldn't let himself think it, but he was falling for Espio.


	2. Chaotic Deja Vu

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 2 – Chaotic Deja Vu

For the remainder of the day, Vector was pampering Espio, treating him like a king. Espio didn't know how to take all of Vector's very generous offers, because he wasn't used to being treated so nicely. Vector did all of the cooking and the cleaning for the remainder, and he even played with Espio and Charmy at the park, which is something he never did before.

Later that night, Espio went into Vector's room and saw how tired he was. Vector yawned and Espio chuckled to himself. "I guess you deserve to be tired, Vector. You have worked so hard today to impress me, and you have done such a good job."

"Really," Vector asked.

Espio sat down next to Vector on the bed. "Yeah, but I think you could've toned it down a little. You really didn't have to act as a footrest so that I would be comfortable on the couch."

Vector blushed a little bit. "I guess I wanted to do it for you, Espio. I didn't want you leaving on me, like I said before."

Espio smiled, something that he wasn't particularly known for. "Well, you've definitely earned my stay." To show his appreciation, Espio decided to give Vector a little hug, which was a little unusual. Vector didn't know that Espio could be so affectionate in that sense.

The two of them separated and Espio stood up from the bed. "I think we both should get some shut-eye. We've had a long day." Vector nodded and Espio exited the room.

Vector smiled and blushed a bright pink again. He didn't know that he would be capable of bringing himself together in one day for Espio to stay. Vector lied down in his bed and turned off the nearby lamp, making the room completely dark other than the moonlight shining through the window.

The next morning, Espio woke up early as he normally does and began meditating in his own room. This was his way of starting his day properly since he wasn't the biggest morning person.

After some meditative relaxation, Espio got up from his bed and exited his room, curious as to what the new day will bring to him. When he did, though, there was silence.

No, there wasn't silence. Espio could faintly hear noises coming from both Charmy's room and the den. He kind of figured that Vector was watching TV and Charmy was playing video games in his room.

Espio smiled and thought that he would be nice for Vector this time and make him breakfast. Espio grabbed all of the ingredients that Vector had used the day before, and cooked up a very similar batch of pancakes. Unlike Vector, Espio did not learn his cooking from his mother. Espio learned his cooking, because it was a requirement for the shinobi ninjas to 'be able to feed themselves'.

While he cooked the pancakes, he thought back to when some of his friends a few years ago taught him to cook this delectable breakfast pastry. They had taught him really quickly the first time, and despite Espio's quick reflexes, he had managed to make a really poor batch of pancakes. He remembered how much people he made sick and how much he laughed that night.

He finished the pancakes and called out to Vector and Charmy, "Hey, breakfast is ready! Come and get it while it's still hot."

There was no response. "Vector, Charmy! Your pancakes are going to get cold if you leave them here.

Again, there was no response. Espio didn't know what was going on, because he could distinctly hear that there was noise coming from the den and Charmy's room. He went away from the kitchen and entered the den to find that Vector was indeed sitting there, watching the Mobian sports channel.

"Didn't you hear me, Vector? I've been trying to tell you that breakfast is ready."

Vector didn't ever avert his gaze from the TV when he said, "Yeah, that's nice, Espio. Why don't you bring me a plate so that I could eat in here."

Espio's confidence lowered significantly. "We probably should all eat in the kitchen at the table. You know… as a team!"

"Espio, as you can see, I am very busy at the moment. We'll eat at the table together at dinner or something. Oh wait, scratch that, there is a race between Team Babylon and Team Argus around that time, and I can't miss that."

Espio sighed to himself and couldn't believe how ignorant Vector could possibly be, despite his behavior from the day before. As he exited the den, he couldn't help but think that there was a sense of Déjà vu. Vector was back to his old, "I don't want to do anything" self again, and Espio didn't like it at all.

Espio went back into the kitchen and grabbed two of the plated with pancakes on them. He then went back into den, refusing to give Vector a good look in the eye, and just put his plate of pancakes on the table next to him.

Vector turned his head again, "Pancakes again? I just cooked that for you guys yesterday."

Espio got infuriated and was now prepared to lose his cool. "Yes, well, maybe the Vector that cooked us those pancakes yesterday can come back to us now, because right now he is being lazy and inconsiderate like he always has been!" This made Vector feel briefly guilty. "I thought you had changed yesterday when you did all of those nice things, but I guess now that you've got me to stay, that you don't have to do anything for me anymore."

Vector almost felt like a tear was going to form in his eye. "Well, I guess I'm staying, but ol' inconsiderate Vector seems to be staying too." Espio then stormed out, leaving Vector in complete shock. He has never been legitimately yelled at by Espio, no one really has.

That's when the feelings that he felt for Espio came rushing back. He had completely forgotten just from one night's rest that he appreciated Espio for everything that he did. He felt really guilty that he couldn't be there for him.

He then tilted his head up, watching as Espio walked by the den after he delivered Charmy's plate to his room. Espio then went back to the table, eating his own cold pancakes, something he didn't really like.

As Espio began eating his pancakes, Vector turned off the TV and went out of the den with a frown on his face. He went over to the kitchen and grabbed a glass from one of the cabinets and filled it up to the brim with water. After the faucet shut off, Espio said, "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. It's not proper of me to do so."

"You made it sound like I didn't deserve to get yelled at."

"You DID deserve to get yelled at, and much more if you ask me. However, that does not change the fact that it is not proper to yell at a friend."

"You still think I'm your friend. I thought you would be mad at me for a really long time." Vector sat down at the table next to Espio.

"Considering your attitude from yesterday, I know that you are capable of changing for the better. Also, looking at the way you walked here and the way you are talking to me right now, it looks like you're going to do something to make it up to me."

Vector looked at him blank-faced, completely dumb-founded at how easily his emotions and intentions can be read by Espio. Vector then pulled himself together and said, "I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Espio said, as he went back to eating his pancakes.

Vector then continued sitting there with Espio in the awkward, watching him as he ate his pancakes. 'Even the way he eats is smooth and gentle,' Vector thought. 'He's so unbelievable.'

Espio then moved his head up from eating and saw that Vector was still sitting at the table, staring at him. Feeling awkward, Espio said, "Vector, is there something else you wanted to talk to me about?"

When Espio spoke to him, all thoughts of reality rushed back to Vector and he said, "Oh, yeah. Sorry." Vector lightly chuckled to himself as his snout turned a very light pink. "I got a call very early this morning about somebody who is in need of our detective services."

"Really, but why would anybody call us at this time? Hardly no one knows who we are since we haven't been advertising ourselves for quite a while."

"Well, I used my computer to send advertisements all across the internet yesterday. I kind of hoped that somebody would be hooked in, and now somebody is!"

"Great, when do we start," Espio asked eagerly.

"The guy asked us to be at his home by sunrise tomorrow. He didn't give a lot of details about what we're going to be looking for tomorrow. All he told me was his address and that his name was Bernard."

"This seems pretty exciting, Vector. We haven't done any detective work in a long time, and I am eager to try out some of my new moves."

Espio then tried to show off by doing a collection of swift flips, which was making Vector so much more. He liked it when Espio shows off.

"Yeah, I can show off my new moves, too." Vector then pulled off some mediocre, robotic punches and did a poor kick into the air.

Espio chuckled to himself. "Looks like you'll need a bit of training before heading back to work, Detective. You've been sitting in that den of yours; you seem to have lost all of your strength."

Vector blushed in embarrassment. "Well, what did you have in mind, Master Espio?" Vector then bowed.

Espio chuckled to himself. "Why don't we go for a little run to make sure that we can still get our limbs moving? Besides, I think you're going to need a bit of a warm-up before you go through Master Espio's training program." Espio smiled to himself.

Vector looked at him somewhat blankly. "Espio, you're crazy."

"Yes, well, maybe you'll think twice before making fun of my pancakes. I think that just earned you twenty push-ups, Detective. Go!"

Vector laughed briefly to himself again and dropped down to give Espio his twenty push-ups, which he had a lot of trouble doing. He barely got to ten when his arms began to struggle under Vector's great weight. After the twenty, his arms gave in and he fell to the floor.

While on the floor, Vector said, "Maybe I'm not in good shape."

Espio shook his head. "Not even a little. You shouldn't have shown off those new moves of yours, Detective."

Vector got up from the floor and smiled over to Espio. "Let's just get running."

Espio nodded and let Charmy know that they were leaving. Charmy faintly said good-bye in the midst of his video game, and the two of them left the house.


	3. Chaotic Exercises

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 3 – Chaotic Exercise

Vector and Espio began their exercising with a simple and slow run through the forests surrounding their home. After only a few minutes, Vector was already becoming a little tired from the running while Espio was still staying strong. After he ran for 15 minutes, Vector asked Espio to take a break.

"You seriously can't be already tired, can you," Espio asked.

"I'm serious, Espio. I can't believe how little I can actually do."

Espio closed his eyes and smirked a little to himself. "I see that you are definitely not the strong, green crocodile that I remember from a few years ago." Vector leaned against a tree and wiped away the sweat that was accumulating at the tip of his head. "Maybe if you stopped watching that ridiculous television of yours, then maybe you'd be in better shape."

"I already said that I was sorry for that."

Espio nodded and went over to lean against the tree with Vector. "Yes, but did you apologize to yourself, though." Espio paused so that Vector could think about that. "That's make you so weird, Vector. Yesterday you tried to do anything to make me happy in every shape and form. Then this morning, you didn't even like the fact that I made pancakes for you. You obviously have shown that you want me to stay and all, but you aren't quite so consistent."

Vector was dumb-founded. Espio was reading him like a book, and he really had nothing to say to respond to what Espio said. He thought about it for a moment and then said, "You give me too much credit, Espio. I'm not the brightest of crocodiles to roam Mobius."

"You kept this team alive for so long, right? Doesn't that take a little ingenuity to do something as incredible as that?"

"I don't know about that. Everything just seemed to fall into place when I planned out this team. It's really you guys that make the team, and not me."

Espio pat Vector on the shoulder a couple of times and said, "I had no idea you could be so modest, Vector. You need to give yourself some credit and realize that this team wouldn't be existent if you didn't make the effort to start it. What you did yesterday just shows that you want to make an effort to keep this going. That's why we have you as a team leader."

Vector blushed for a brief second. He had never thought of himself as a good leader before then. Espio telling him that he was only boosted his spirits even more. "You really mean that, Espio, or are you just trying to make me feel better?"

"I mean it." Espio paused and then dragged Vector away from the tree that he was leaning on. "But a good leader can also be in good shape, right? Let's get moving."

Vector nodded and the two of them began running. With his newfound confidence, Vector was able to ignore the sweat and the pain that radiated in his legs and ran for a much longer time without stopping. After a good half hour of very light jogging, though, Vector was finally done and decided to have another rest stop.

"Well, you definitely did much better that time."

"Yeah, maybe you should tell me I'm a good leader more often."

Espio smirked. "Nice try, Detective. Maybe you should just be good at everything without me telling you how amazing you are."

Vector faked a sigh. "Fine."

"So, tell me, Espio. You seem to be at the house a lot also, but you are just as fit as I am."

Espio looked over at Vector. "I guess I should probably tell you what I have been doing at the nights that I 'ran away'." Vector raised an imaginary eye-brow and Espio continued. "I mainly like to run for a long time until I get kind of tired. Running usually gets my mind off of things."

"Well, what would you normally think about?"

"I told you. I kept thinking about my intentions of leaving the team and all of that kind of stuff. Though, I kept going back and forth from whether it was a good or bad idea."

"I see."

"So after I get tired, I would rest on a rock or a tree stump and just watch the stars above me. It's a really serene feeling to be alone at night watching the stars."

"So… every night you were running and star-gazing? I thought you were slashing a piece of paper that had my face on it to let all your anger out."

"A ninja always stays calm and does not allow his emotions to get the better of him."

Vector sighed. "Haven't you noticed that you are apart of Team Chaotix now? You can do whatever the heck you want. It's not like a ninja is constantly watching you 24/7, just waiting for you to not be ninja-like."

"Actually there is."

"Really?"

Espio laughed a little to himself. "Of course not. I wouldn't do half the things I do with you guys if I had a person from the Shinobi watching my back every second of every day."

Vector laughed. "Wow! Espio the Chameleon actually has a sense of humor."

Espio bowed at the laughter. "Thank you very much. I'll be here all week." Espio stood back up and looked up at Vector. This is when Espio noticed that Vector's face was turning a little pink towards the cheeks. "Vector, your cheeks are turning a little pink. Are you getting a little sick?"

Vector then turned really quickly and tried to mask his blushing face. He was so happy that Espio was having a good time that he didn't realize he was blatantly blushing in front of him. "Yeah, I guess I'm a little sick from this running."

"Do you want to stop exercising today, then?"

"No, I think I'll be fine. Why don't you lead now? I have regained my energy now."

"Uh, alright. Try to keep up."

Espio then went off in a slightly faster jog than before, but it seemed like Vector was able to keep up with him. Vector made sure to stay a foot or two behind Espio so he could keep up while not running into his. Though, that didn't help to much, because the shrubbery was dense in the area of the forest that they were in and Vector was constantly stumbling over things like a branch or large root.

Then, a large root that Vector didn't see at all tripped him and he fell, taking Espio down with him. Espio was shocked from the fall and tried to turn himself around to face Vector. When he did, he saw that Vector was almost completely on top of him. They looked into each other's eyes, blushing a little bit.

Vector saw Espio's enticing yellow eyes, and Espio finally noticed the beauty of Vector's maroon eyes in contrast to his green scales. The two of them then blushed even brighter, even though neither of them were paying attention to each other's red cheeks.

Vector, embarrassed, then got up from the ground, pulling Espio up after him. "Sorry about that, Espio. I guess I'm more of a klutz than I thought I was."

Espio, still blushing from the fall, said, "It's okay, Vector. The trees seem to be very dense in this are, and I wouldn't have been surprised if you fell like that more often."

The two of them kept on running, despite the fact that they just embarrassed themselves in an unusual way. Though, while they ran, they kept silent, compiling all of their thoughts about what had just happened.

About ten minutes later, they finally made it back to the house. They were completely drenched in sweat, and they were ready to get washed up. They entered their home and found it to be as it normally was. They were just hoping that Charmy wouldn't ruin the place while they were gone.

"Charmy, we're home," Vector said, panting heavily from the long running.

"Alright," Charmy responded from his room.

Vector turned to face Espio and asked, "Are we still going to do other exercises, or are we done for the day?"

Espio shook his sweating head. "I think we have done quite enough for today, Vector. You seem to be in better shape than you think you are. Let's go get something to eat."

"That sounds good," Vector said, clutching his empty stomach. "Why don't you go take a shower to get all of that sweat off, Espio, and I'll whip up something simple for lunch."

Espio quickly shook his head. "You ought to be far more tired and sweaty than I am, Vector. I'll go make lunch, and you can take the first shower."

'Are we actually fighting about who's taking the first shower,' Vector asked himself. "Uh, sure Espio. I'll be back in a little bit, and you can make the lunch."

"Okay. This time maybe I'll make something other than pancakes to make you nice and happy."

"Get over it, Espio," Vector shouted as he walked out of the room. Espio giggled to himself.

Vector officially left the room and Espio turned towards the kitchen and considered what food he was going to make.

**Sorry for the late release, guys. I normally post on every Monday. Next week, it'll be on time. Promise. ^_^ ~Scorpclaw~**


	4. Chaotic Getaway

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 4 – Chaotic Getaway

Espio searched through the pantry to see if he could find something that he could cook for Vector and Charmy. He found some angel hair pasta and thought he could whip together some simple spaghetti. He went rummaging through the kitchen, and he was able to find some spaghetti sauce.

He then began to cook with the ingredients that he was given. After ten minutes though, Vector finished with his shower and went over to check on how lunch was doing. He entered as Espio was stirring noodles in a boiling pot. He didn't want to think about it, but Espio actually looked pretty good while he cooked. 'It shows a more sensitive side to him,' Vector thought to himself.

Espio continued to work with the noodles, hoping that they would finish soon so that he wouldn't have to keep Vector waiting for so long. A second later, Espio recklessly grabbed a noodle from the pot, despite the immense heat, and placed it into his mouth. He smiled, because it was just the right consistency to work with.

Espio, while looking at the pot, tried to reach for some plates to put the noodles in. Though, when his hands went over there, he ended up touching a soft gloved hand. Espio was shocked, because he knew that he wasn't touching the plates. He looked up and saw that Vector was standing right next to him staring at his work.

Espio was startled and he quickly retracted his hand. "How long have you been standing there?"

"I'm sorry, Espio, did I startle you? I was only there for a minute or two."

"Oh. Well, you can go sit at the table and wait for me to finish. I'm almost done."

"Well, I was wondering if I can help you."

Espio then gently pushed Vector to the side as he reached for the plates. "I can handle it myself, Vector. Besides, it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to put noodles on a plate and garnishing it with sauce." Espio then threw more than half of the noodles onto the plate with a single swipe. He was about to get the rest of them when the phone began to ring. "You can help, though, by answering the phone."

Vector sighed, because he didn't like being pushed aside by Espio. However, he did do what he was told.

Espio continued with his cooking. He put the spaghetti onto three different plates, and then individually placed an adequate amount of spaghetti sauce on each of them. He didn't consider this the best dish he ever made, but he certainly liked the finished product.

Espio took all three plates simultaneously and placed them onto the table in front of each individual chair. Vector entered the kitchen after finishing the phone call. "Can you go get Charmy and tell him that lunch is ready?" Vector nodded and exited the room again.

They all then sat down and began eating at Espio's spaghetti. "This is actually pretty good, Espio," Vector started. "I thought that spaghetti sauce, but it seems like it's a-okay."

Espio smiled and said thank-you. "Though, if you guys get food poisoning… I should've probably checked the expiration date on that sauce.

Vector laughed to himself. "It's okay; it wouldn't be the first time."

"So Vector, who was on the phone?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. That blue hedgehog was wondering if the three of us can go to the beach with him. There was something about introducing a friend of his."

"That actually sounds kind of fun," Espio said. "Why don't we all go?"

"Well… I actually have already offered to do something for Vanilla today. But, you and Charmy can still go if you guys want to."

"Actually, I'm still not ready to go back to the beach after that big wave accident."

Espio frowned, because not only would he be going to the beach alone, but he would be going alone because his best friend is ditching him for Vanilla. "Alright, I guess it'll be just me."

Vector and Charmy nodded, not even realizing that Espio was upset about going alone.

An hour later, Espio told Vector and Charmy that he was leaving and he left to go to the beach. He walked slowly, just thinking to himself about Vector. There were two things that crossed his mind: how mad Vector can make him and how happy Vector can make him. It was all so confusing how two opposites can work so well in a person like him. Espio tried to shake the thoughts, but they just continued to linger for the entire day.

Espio finally picked up the pace and made it to the beach at a decent time. He didn't quite recognize anyone there, other than Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Rouge and Shadow. He later found out that the pink and green hedgehogs there were Sonic's sister and brother. He also found out that the other green hedgehog that was with Sonic was named Scourge.

Espio greeted everyone politely and then sat down on the ground since there were no available seats open. He then listened in on some pretty healthy conversation, most of which were on Knuckles and Rouge. Espio didn't even know that they were a couple, especially since he doesn't really do a whole lot outside of Team Chaotix.

Though, as they talked about their relationship, Espio imagined himself being in a relationship. He never exactly had the experience of love, but there has always been someone that has "caught his eye"… Vector.

Espio then decided to chime in on the conversation and said, "I never heard this story. Where did you two first fall in love? I know that you knew Rouge for quite some time. What finally caught your eye about her, Knuckles?"

"Well, it wasn't simple. When Rouge was apart of Eggman's team, I didn't see much in her other than the fact that she was big on jewels. But after some time, I saw a sense of charm in what she does, and I kind of figured that she saw the same thing in me. So we got to talking, and well here we are." The two of them nuzzled together, expressing their happiness together.

"That's good," Espio blankly said. He thought that was kind of ironic, because Vector seemed like an arrogant boss when Espio first became apart of Team Chaotix, but now it seems like they have been the closest of friends. He didn't exactly know what to think of that.

"What about you, Espio," Knuckles started. "Do you have a special someone that has caught your eye?"

"As a ninja, I do not experience love in the same way as all of you do. I am disciplined." Some of the people then giggled at Espio's serious response. "But, there is someone that has caught my eye."

Sonic gave Espio a smile. "Oh, do we know her?"

Espio went wide-eyed, because he didn't know how people would react if he told them that he liked a guy, especially if that guy is Vector. "I have said too much. Can we please change the subject?"

Everyone sighed and giggled, because they actually wanted to hear if Espio was doing with his life other than being a ninja for a poor detective agency. Espio blushed a deep pink that was visible even through his pink body. This gave everyone the re-assurance that Espio is actually in love with someone at the moment.

Espio didn't want to talk about the matter anymore, because he could blatantly feel the blush rushing to his cheeks. Though, he was saved by Sonia who offered for everyone to join her in the water. Espio quickly nodded, and joined a few others to go to the ocean.

He took off his shoes and socks in fear of getting them wet, and then decided to sit down at the shore's edge, watching as the water move forward and touch his feet and retract back. He liked the feeling of the water's motion. Frankly, he actually liked a lot about the water, especially how serene it is.

Espio simply sat there enjoying himself while he watched everyone else have a good time out in the water. Knuckles and Rouge were playfully splashing each other, and Manic was chasing Sonia around in the water. He liked the sight of this, because he never truly had a family of his own, nor did he have a relationship that was similar to Knuckles' and Rouge's.

He sat there for a few more minutes and then turned his head. He saw that everyone that was back at the chairs was all gone now. Espio was curious as to why they would all just leave their stuff there, but he didn't question it. When he swung his head around again, he then realized that Sonia was coming over to him and sat down next to him.

"Why are you playing in the water, Espio?"

"I don't like being in the water that much. I just like it when it brushes up against my feet."

"Yeah, but you're sitting here all by yourself."

"It's fine with me," Espio reassured her. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Sonia sighed. "Espio, this is the first time meeting you, and I can already tell that something's already pretty wrong."

Espio frowned. "Is it really that obvious?"

"Of course it is. Does it have something to do with the whole love thing earlier?"

Espio paused for a brief second and then finally said, "Yeah, it does a little."

"You must really care about this person a lot."

Espio then thought back to earlier that day when he ran with Vector through the forest outside of his home. It was the one real time that he had truly spent with Vector, and he enjoyed every minute of it. He also thought back when Vector fell on top of him and his face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"I don't know what to think of… this person. One minute, I can't keep my mind off of… this person, and the next minute, I can't help but be constantly irritated with… this person."

Sonia giggled to herself. "You sure are saying 'this person' a lot, Espio. We have pronouns in this world for a reason. It's almost as if you don't want to tell me the gender of "this person".

Espio then began to sweat on the inside, which immediately caught Sonia's attention. "Oh my goodness, you don't want to tell me the gender of 'this person', because this person isn't a girl, is he?"

Espio could only nod. Sonia tried to hide her shocked expression so that she wouldn't make him uncomfortable. "That shouldn't be something to be ashamed about, Espio. Love has many forms, and gender doesn't change anything ever." Espio looked over at Sonia and smiled. She was doing well with boosting his spirits. "So… do we have a name to fit to this 'some person'?

Espio thought about it for a second, but he realized that he really could trust Sonia with whatever he told her. "His name is Vector, and he is the leader of Team Chaotix, a detective agency I'm apart of."

"Oh, then if you're already that close, then maybe you should tell him how you feel."

"I don't know, Sonia. I think he has feelings for Vanilla the Rabbit rather than for me, and I don't want to ruin our friendship by making things awkward between the two of us."

"Well… don't give up, Espio. If you truly love someone, then you have to keep trying, because you never know… 'this person' may just love you too."

Espio smiled and nodded. He never had the courage to expressing any of his feelings, but everything that Sonia was saying was making sense. He really did want to tell Vector how he feels, despite any consequences that should follow. "Thank you, Sonia. I should probably head on home now. I don't think I'll be able to stay here with something like this on my mind."

Sonia nodded. "I hope everything works out for you, too. You seem like a nice person, Espio, and someone like Vector would be very lucky to have someone like you." Sonia then got up and re-entered the water, attempting to tackle Manic while he's not looking.

Espio got up from the sand and returned to the chairs where the group was at earlier. This time, Sonic and Scourge were finally back from wherever they went. Espio was about to go over to them to tell them that he was leaving until something unexpected happened. Not a second later, Espio caught the two of them kissing. Despite the awkward moment that his presence would bring, he decided to approach them anyways.

Espio walked up to them without them noticing and just waited for them to finish. Sonic then looked up while kissing Scourge and was completely shocked to see that Espio was standing there.

Sonic separated the kiss suddenly and thought of something to say. "Uh… and that's how you perform CPR on a drowning person, Scourge. Now you can use it on anyone you see drowning."

"Thanks, Sonic. I always wanted to know that."

Espio lifted up an imaginary eyebrow and placed his arms on his hips. "I don't know how gullible you two think I am, but I believe it is best that I stay out of it."

Sonic and Scourge gave Espio an innocent, uncomfortable smile.

"Anyways, I think I am going to leave now. Thank you for inviting me to the beach."

Sonic simply nodded awkwardly, hoping that Espio would leave as soon as possible. Espio then simply took his shoes and socks and carried them away from the beach.

'What they just did,' Espio thought to himself, 'I want too. I want it really bad.'

_**Alright, let's see how dedicated you guys are. There's something strangely familiar about this chapter. If you are the first to point out why it's familiar, then… you get a hug… or a personal fan fiction written by me just for you. Whichever you want, you can specify in your review.**_


	5. Chaotic Constellations

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 5 – Chaotic Constellations

Espio returned home to find that nobody was there. Vector must have still been at Vanilla's house, and Charmy probably went with him to play with Cream. Espio sighed, because the confidence that he had just gotten from Sonia at the beach was now withered away, because he realized that Vector is far more attracted to Vanilla than he is to anyone else.

Espio went into the kitchen and looked at the clock to check the time. It was 4:45. 'I probably should wait a little bit before making dinner.' He then exited the kitchen again and sat down on the couch in the living room.

He rested his head against the soft couch and simply thought about Vector and what he could possibly be doing at Vanilla's house. 'They could be kissing for all I know,' Espio said to himself. He didn't even want to think about Vanilla and Vector together anymore, but the images just keep on returning.

Espio then decided to sit up so that it doesn't seem like he's sulking, even though that is exactly what he's doing. After some thought, Espio got up from the couch and entered the kitchen again. 'I guess it wouldn't be too big of a deal if I started dinner now,' Espio thought.

He then made preparations to make some sort of beef that had been stored in the freezer for the past week. Sadly, the Chaotix didn't own a grill, so Espio had to resort to using the oven to cook his meat.

After a little while of preparation, Espio placed the meat into the oven. Afterwards, he just simply waited for it to cook. Though, he didn't have to wait too long for company, because Vector and Charmy walked into the door about 15 minutes later.

Espio's face brightened to see Vector enter the house. He walked over to him and slickly asked, "So… did you have a good time?"

"I don't know. Vanilla asked us all to pick flowers for some boutique again, and I don't really care to do that kind of stuff."

"Yeah, I didn't think so. So… did you… kiss her?" Espio attempted as best as he could to sound chill when he said this, but in reality, Espio truly wants to know the answer to this question.

Vector playfully punched Espio in the arm and said, "Espio, I didn't realize you wanted me and Vanilla to have some action." Espio flinched. No, he didn't want that at all. "No, we aren't like that. We're friends, I guess." Espio let out a sigh of relief, because that was one obstacle that he could forever get rid of.

"So… didn't you go to the beach with Sonic and his friends?"

"Yeah, it was fun, but it wasn't all that special," Espio lied. He didn't enjoy lying to Vector, but he didn't even want to hint at what happened at the beach.

"Oh, okay. Well I guess we can both agree that are days weren't all that great." Espio nodded in agreement. Vector then lifted his head into the air and said, "I see that you're cooking something too."

"Oh, you noticed."

"Yeah, anyone can smell burning meat from a mile away."

"Burning… meat." Espio quickly ran over to the oven and opened it up, immediately burning his hand. Espio tried to ignore the pain and reached in to grab the burning meat out of the oven. Doing so just made the pain even worse. Espio simply took the meat and threw it onto the stove top.

Espio then ran out of the room to wash his hands with cold water to get rid of the pain. Of course, Espio could never wash away the pain of completely embarrassing himself in front of Vector. He just continued to drench his hands in cold water, ignoring the heavy tingling feeling that was rushing through his fingers.

After a few minutes of that, Espio felt good enough to turn off the water and just let his hands heal naturally. Espio wiped his hands dry with a nearby towel and turned around to exit the bathroom.

Though, he was immediately startled to see that Vector was standing there waiting at the door. This caused Espio to flinch and to take a few steps back.

"Oh, sorry Espio. I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's… alright."

"So… what was that all about, Espio? You're normally such a good cook and would always keep an eye on the oven, even if you were distracted."

"The meat was thin, so I guess I didn't anticipate the shorter time to cook it." This was a half-lie.

"Oh, alright. Are you sure you're okay, Espio? You've been acting strange all day."

"I don't really want to talk about it. It's kind of embarrassing."

"Well, you can tell me anything, Espio. We're really close friends, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are. I just don't think I'm ready to say anything right now, though."

"Oh, I see. Maybe you can tell me later, or something. I know what happened the last time you were this upset, and well I can't exactly make you feel better if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"Alright, maybe later." Vector smiled. Espio then said, "I'm going to go for a walk by myself for a little bit. I think I just need a little bit of air."

"Alright, come back soon. I'm probably going to go to the market to go get us some food, since dinner isn't edible at the moment."

Espio tried to pull off a smirk and a smile, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He simply just walked past Vector and went out the door.

For the next 15 minutes, Espio just simply walked in a single direction. Though, this wasn't new to him, because he used to take this route every night before Vector "apologized". He went on for another five minutes and then he had finally reached his destination.

He was now on the edge of a wonderful cliffside, not too far from where Team Chaotix lives. Espio thought back to when he first found this place. Vector was being especially cranky and was taking all of his anger out on him and Charmy. He couldn't take it anymore and just ran out of the house until he made it to this spot.

Just like before, the cliffside had the best view of the sunset. Espio would simply rest his head on a surprisingly smooth rock and watch as the sun disappeared from view and the moon and stars appeared. Espio always had a connection with nature, which is why this particular spot was perfect for him.

Normally, he would count the stars to keep his "boss" out of his mind. Now, he would count the stars to keep his "crush" out of his mind. He didn't think that such a change would be made in this short of time, but here he was now, watching the stars as each of them formed constellations that resembled Vector's head.

They were all of Vector's head, Espio thought. Though, as he tilted his head a little and rearranged his thoughts, he could make out a different figure amongst the stars. It was himself. His star self was staring at the several Vectors in the sky. He thought it was imagination, but no amount of shaking his head caused the vision of the 'Espio and Vectors' to go away.

He wanted to stay like that forever to watch those stars, but what the stars were doing, he wanted it to be reality. Espio got up from the smooth rock and began walking back home. He didn't want to worry Vector by being gone for too long.

After another twenty minutes, Espio finally returned home. He turned to his left to see that Vector and Charmy were eating pizza from a place called 'Chester's Cheddar'.

"Hurry up and get in here Espio before your pizza gets cold."

Espio smiled and sat down at the table. "So what is this 'Chester's Cheddar'?"

"You don't know what CC is? It's only the best pizza place in all of Mobius."

Espio laughed to himself. "I guess I'll have to trust you on that then." He then grabbed himself a slice of pizza and placed it into his mouth. He tossed the piece of pizza around in his mouth, and he realized how good it tasted.

"This actually isn't half bad," Espio stated before taking another bite.

"What did I tell you? Chester has never failed me yet."

The three of them then continued to eat to their pizza. Afterwards, everyone seemed to disperse to do whatever they normally do at night when they needed to relax. Espio simply went to his room and tried to shut his mind off from everything before heading off to bed. Though, for every minute where he cleared his mind, there was always a minute where there was something cluttering his thoughts.

This was frustrating for him, because he never felt so distracted ever in his life. So, after meditating and exercising failed to clear his mind, Espio just simply decided to turn on his little TV to see what was on.

When it turned on, it was on some kind of drama-romance show. Espio didn't think he was going to be interested in it, but he didn't think he was going to be interested in anything else, though, so he just stayed on the channel.

From what he saw so far from the episode, he pieced together the facts that the two main characters had crushes on each other, but they don't quite the other's feelings. He didn't really think much of it, but as the episode progressed, Espio couldn't help but feel that the show connected well with his situation.

Something that really caught Espio's attention was a quote from one of the guy's friends. "You never know if she's going to like you unless you try. Who knows, maybe she's had the same feelings for you all along." It was similar to the advice that Sonia gave him.

Then, at that instant, Espio thought of something different this time. It was something that had not shown up in his mind until this point. Finally, he imagined Vector saying 'yes' to liking him. After that, he imagined him and Vector having a wonderful relationship together where all of their friends supported them in whatever they wanted to do. After that, he imagined himself getting married to Vector and having a happy life with him.

At that moment, Espio knew that he was ready. He switched off his TV, exited his room, and went into the den to confess his true feelings.

"Vector, I think I'm ready to talk about what's been on my mind."

Vector then turned off his TV, making the room uncomfortably silent, and turned to face Espio. "Well it's about time. What's going on, Espio?"

The minute that Vector asked him that question, Espio could feel the blood fleeing away from his face. Even though he was afraid to do what he was about to do, he knew that he had to confess to Vector or else he would go crazy.

"Do you promise that we'll stay friends if you don't like what I tell you?"

"What could you possibly say that would cause me to stop being friends with you? You'd have to kill me for me to stop being friends with you."

Espio let out a little chuckle, which didn't help much to the situation. "Well, the weird feelings that you've been seeing… well, you're the only one who sees them, because they only happen when I'm around you."

"Why is that?"

Espio then imagined that a bead of sweat was rolling down the side of his face. He knew that it was now or never at this point. "It's because… I think I like you." Espio braced for whatever Vector was going to do next. He truly had no idea if Vector was going to be happy or upset.

Even though Espio was dieing on the inside, Vector was actually have a firework show occurring on the inside of him. He didn't even know what to say in reply to Espio without seeming overly happy and obnoxious. Instead, he tried to do a different approach.

He brought Espio in for a kiss. The two had no idea that they had feelings for each other. Now, they know what it's like to share love with somebody else.


	6. Orderly Love

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 6 – Orderly Love

It wasn't long until Espio separated the kiss. He truly wanted the kiss to last forever, but he didn't want to have if he didn't know what the kiss meant to Vector.

"I'm confused. I thought you would be completely freaked out about me having feelings for you."

Vector got up from his chair and grabbed a chair, gesturing for Espio to sit down. When Espio did, Vector sat down in his own chair and said, "Espio, you need to hear something so you can kind of understand what's going on. I never liked Vanilla at all, even though I told some people that I liked her a lot. I was just embarrassed that I was your boss and leader and that I didn't have a love interest."

"Why would you be embarrassed around me?"

"Because you always seem to be so traditional about everything, and I thought you would think differently of me if I told you that I was attracted to guys rather than girls."

"Wait, you were always… gay?"

"Yeah. The only people that know right now are you, my mom, and… Vanilla."

"Wait, why would you tell Vanilla something like that?"

"She thought that I had a thing for her, and she clearly showed me that she had no interest in dating me. So I went over to her house one day, and she simply just asked me if I had feelings for her. I guess when I told her 'no', I really just wanted to prove to her that I never did."

"I see. So I guess I never had anything to worry about." Espio sighed and then looked up to actually see Vector smiling. Espio smiled briefly then frowned again. "I guess I only have one more question. How long have you… had feelings for me?"

"I want to say that I've liked you since you first joined Team Chaotix, but that's probably not entirely true. Over time, I kind of just warmed up to you, and it seemed that the two of us had some kind of connection that I never had with anybody else."

"We did?"

"Yeah, but I guess I didn't really show it because I always had my head in the clouds so that this detective agency could actually be amazing."

"Your head wasn't really that much in the clouds. You just tend to make dumb decisions on the missions that we go on just so you can be 'admirable' by your peers."

"To tell you the truth, I only did half of those things so that I could impress you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I kind of just thought that if I couldn't have you as a boyfriend, I could at least make you happy to have me as a boss."

Espio finally smiled. "I can probably tell you that you have achieved both, Vector."

Vector almost looked like he was about to tear up. "Yeah, I guess I did." Vector then kissed Espio on the cheek, causing him to blush a little. "So… don't you have a love story to tell me, then."

"I guess I do. I didn't really think of you much more than a boss when I first met you. I was so keen on being successful and finishing the mission, that I never really had the chance to think about love."

"But?"

"But then things changed. After you got that heavy reward from one of your clients, you kind of just stopped taking calls and we just stopped going on missions. You stopped hanging out with me and Charmy. At that moment, I finally found out what it was like to feel lonely."

"Why were you lonely, Espio?"

"Because I guess I didn't realize how much I enjoyed going on missions with you guys. Whenever I did, I got to actually feel the action, while also laughing whenever you and Charmy make a bad mistake. When that all suddenly stopped, I guess I couldn't change my lifestyle around to compensate for the loss of missions."

"Then what?"

"Then, I started leaving in the middle of night to get my thoughts together. At first, it was just about taming some of the anger that I had of you when you just starting ignoring me and Charmy. Then, it just got sad, because I had no one to share my feelings with. Then… I thought of you, and all of the good times that we had together before we stopped being a team."

"I guess I wasn't in a good place at that time. I remember the first time you just stormed out of the house when I was just yelling at you and Charmy."

"Yeah. I don't even remember why you were so angry with me."

"You asked me who was on the phone. It made seem like such a silly reason for getting so angry, but I guess I never really told you what happened."

"No, you didn't."

"Then I guess I'll tell you later. It's a little personal."

"Oh, I see, I don't want to force something out of you that you don't want to talk about." Then there was a slightly long pause between the two of them, because they each had exhausted their stories. "So… what now," Espio asked.

Vector thought about it for a second and said, "Why don't we go to bed now, and we'll talk about us tomorrow. We'll bring Charmy over to Vanilla's house to play with Cream, and we can have a day out together."

"Alright, that sounds like a good idea." Espio was about to leave the room when Vector gently grabbed his arm and brought him back.

"Espio, aren't you going to give me a goodnight kiss?"

Espio smiled before turning around. He planted a loving kiss on Vector's lips before saying, "I think I can get used to that."

"You'd better."

Espio walked away from the den with a brightening smile on his face.

The night turned out to be wonderful for the two lovers. When Espio went to bed, he almost found it difficult to stay asleep, because he thought of all of the things that he and Vector could possibly do tomorrow. This same feeling washed over Vector, though he was getting far more sleep than Espio was.

The next morning, Vector woke up at a slightly early time of 6:30. He didn't know what he wanted to do, because he had a lot of things on his mind. He wanted to make breakfast, but he knew he would have to go to the market to get some ingredients. So… he decided to wing it and do something slightly different for a change.

He went over to the phone and dialed some numbers. He waited for a few seconds until a voice picked up on the other end.

"Hello, my name is Katrina and this is Vinegar Hall. Would you like to make a reservation for brunch?"

"Hi Katrina, it's me Vector?"

"Oh hi Detective Vector. It's been awhile since I've heard or seen you. Is there something I can do for you today?"

"Yeah, I have someone special with me today, and I was wondering if you could get us a table at the restaurant. I want to treat him to something fancy."

"Well, I'm looking at the table chart, and it looks like we'll have a few tables just for the two of you. I'll just put you in for 7:00, is that alright?"

"That'll be great. Thanks Katrina, you've been a big help."

"You got it."

The two then hung up the phone. Vector then turned and went over to Espio's door. He was going to just simply knock on it for Espio to wake up, but he wanted to do something a little more personal. He silently opened the door and went inside Espio's bedroom.

He wanted to just kiss him awake, but then Vector just saw him as he was sleeping. Since Vector had never really been allowed in Espio's room, he never really had the chance to see how cute Espio was when he slept. He just got out a chair and kind of just smiled at him for a minute.

Then Espio began to open his eyes. Espio was never the heaviest sleeper, so his ears can generally catch minor sounds, like when Vector grabbed the chair. Espio turned his body to the side to see if anyone was in the room with him and smiled when he noticed it was Vector.

"Detective, there's a spy in my room. What should I do," Espio asked drowsily.

"You should take him down and ask him some questions about what he knows."

Espio smiled meekly. He got up from his bed and sat on Vector's lap. He kissed him on the lips and then said, "Spy is now neutralized."

"Good job, Espio. Come back to base."

Espio laughed a little to himself before getting off of Vector's lap in order to get his shoes and gloves on for the day. "So what is the plan for today, Vector?"

"Well, actually, I hope you have yourself a suit, because we're going out to eat something a little special today."

"Why, where are we going?"

"I made a reservation for brunch at Vinegar Hall."

"Wow, how were you able to get a reservation there? That place always seems to be full, even on bad days."

"Do you remember Katrina from one of our missions?"

"The purple cat whose daughter got lost and attacked in the woods. Yeah, that was a pretty brutal mission."

"Well, she still remembers me, and I heard that she got a job at Vinegar Hall where she makes reservation calls."

"Hm, I guess the detective agency did more than just bring in some money. I'm curious if any of the other clients have special jobs that can bring us somewhere special."

"I doubt it. So many petty missions and so many petty clients."

"Good enough for me."

The two of them finished getting ready in their suits and then quickly went off to Vinegar Hall so that they could make it on time for their reservation. When they made it there, they were greeted by Katrina.

"Hello Detective Vector." Katrina then looked over to Espio. "You're Detective Espio, right? Hopefully I got that name right."

"Just Espio is fine, m'am."

"Alright. We'll be seating you two at table 104. Valerie will be taking you there." Katrina gestured to a light blue hedgehog, who took some menus and asked Vector and Espio to follow her.

After being taken to their table, the two of them ordered their drinks and food.

"This is very nice, Vector. I never would've thought that you would go so far as to getting us a last-minute reservation at a restaurant like this."

"I really wanted to do something special right away. Last night was so amazing, but it didn't last all that long. So now we have the day to ourselves to talk about us."

"I like that plan," Espio said with a smile. The two then were silenced. They didn't really have anything to say to each other, because they don't know what to say at all. Even though they were in love, they just thought of each other as boss and partner at this point. It was awkward.

"This is a little awkward, Vector."

Vector was shocked that Espio actually stated that out loud. But he did respect Espio's true honesty. "Yeah, this is pretty awkward. I feel like if I say any at the top of my head right now then I'll say something really stupid, and you'll just want to leave."

"Why would I want to leave? For one thing, I'm used to you saying dumb things that you don't really mean. Also, I love you. I don't just want to leave because you don't know what to say at a time like this."

"Fine, then how about you tell me something that I don't already know yet?"

Espio thought about it for a second and then said, "I played the violin for a few months for a service that asked me to play for children. Even though I got the basics of it right away, it was just not my forte."

"Wow, really? That's amazing to hear that you actually know how to play an instrument. I would never be able to. None of my family is musically-inclined."

"I'm sure you would be able to if you put your mind to it. But how about you? I'm sure there are a lot of things from your childhood that you never told me about."

"I sure do, but I guess I can really say that there's this one story that stands out from the rest. It might take awhile, so do you want to hear it?"

Espio smiled. "Of course I do."

Vector cleared his throat and then said, "Well…"


	7. Orderly Truth

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 7 – Orderly Truth

"Well, I was with both of my parents, and we were going over to the market that day. When I was a little crocodile, I used to enjoy spending a lot of time with my parents since I didn't have any brothers or sisters to play with at home."

"So, we went into this one toy shop, because I was being really whiny and I just kept insisting that we go in. I guess you'd be surprised that I would actually be so interested in toys, especially since I'm the person that I am now. But I was just like any other bratty kid when I was at that age."

Espio laughed at Vector's comment of himself. "You think very little of yourself as a kid. Did you not like how you acted when you were a child?"

Vector shook his head. "I have changed a lot over the years, and now that I own a detective agency with you guys, I guess I can finally say that I'm no longer who I used to be. Before, everything was just kind of given to me since my parents had a pretty high income, so I just thought that everything else in life would be given to me. I eventually learned that I need to work for what I want instead of just waiting for things to just magically happen. I wasn't given the work at Team Chaotix, I made it myself. I guess forming this detective agency was a big jump in my life."

Espio smiled, because he knew he could relate with Vector. His life as a ninja with very little family has given him no flavor in his life. That all changed for him when he joined Team Chaotix where he could truly use his teachings to the fullest.

"So back to the toy store. My parents and I were looking for presents for other family members, and I thought I would be smart and find something for my younger family, like my cousins. I thought that all of my family was like me and would rather be playing around than doing chores and doing my homework. My mom later told me that my cousins don't like playing with toys because they're too busy with their other activities and their schoolwork. So we were in the toy store pretty much for me since it seemed that my family was too formal and organized to actually do anything fun."

"I went down the many aisles in the store to look at the shelves filled with things like action figures, comic books, video games, and things like that. My mom told me that if I found something that I liked that I could get it, but she told me that I could only get one thing. So using my mass-genius skills, I weighed the costs and benefits of having each toy and I determined which one was best for me."

Espio gave Vector a funny look and said, "So you basically took a few that you liked, closed your eyes, and randomly pointed your finger to something."

Vector gave a feint laugh. "Yeah, it may have gone a little like that, but the way that I said it sounded way better."

Espio laughed sweetly to himself. "I know you almost too well, Vector. I'm already catching on to how you acted when you were a little one."

"Yeah, yeah, wait until we start listening to some stories of your wonderful childhood, and we'll see who gets the laugh on this."

"Try me," Espio said slickly.

Vector laughed deviously to himself and almost felt like he was going to tackle Espio, but he knew that he probably shouldn't do that in a public place like the restaurant that they were in. Especially since the two of them were in suits and tackling each other would probably get them thrown out. Vector just simply continued the story.

"So the thing that I _skillfully_ decided on… was a ninja." Espio then lit up. He didn't realize the point of the story, but he knew that Vector was leading up to something about him. "It was a white echidna that was wrapped in the generic black robe with his face covered and everything. It was striking a pose that any ninja action figure would, and he was holding a shuriken. Something about ninjas at that time just seemed so cool to me, so I got it off the shelf and brought it over to my mom. She thought it looked nice and "cute", because apparently everything I pick out is cute to her, so we ended up buying it."

"After we left the store, I really wanted the shopping to end, so I rushed my parents when they went to the next few stores. I wouldn't let my mom try on fifty dresses at the clothing store and I wouldn't let my dad stop at the sporting goods store, even though he loves his sports. I just wanted to get home so I could play with my new toy, and my parents knew this. They are really used to the routine of going to the toy store first, me picking out a toy, and them torturing me for the next hour and a half while they went to really boring stores. Though I brought the torture onto them, also."

Espio laughed to himself, because he knew that he wouldn't have ever been able to be like that around his parents. Espio's family is a lot like Vector's cousins, where his family is just stricter and more organized than any ordinary family.

"After all of that, I was finally able to get back home. I brought my ninja action figure…" Vector paused because he already felt silly for being so obsessed over an action figure. "I brought my ninja into my room, and I did something a little bit new. I played detective. I would be the detective that got all of the secret assignments and you… I mean the ninja would be my sidekick that would sneak in and kill of the bad guys before I enter a room."

Espio chuckled a bit. "It sounds like the ninja should be the hero and you should be the sidekick. It seems that the ninja is doing all the work while you're just walking into a room full of dead bad guys."

"Yes, but I walked into the room with style, which makes up just about 80% of all heroes. The ninja just snuck in with his special… sneaking-in powers and just killed everyone in the room. Where is the style in that?"

"I think there's a lot of style in that. The ninja's sneaking-in powers must be amazing."

Vector chuckled to himself when Espio mocked him for say sneaking-in powers instead of anything else. "Yes, well, I was way cooler. That echidna worked for me, and that was how it went. So we would go from room to room and then we would enter the last room where there was always some kind of prize at the end. I always made it different whenever I had a new "mission", but I wasn't exactly creative when I was young. I would use treasures like gold and diamonds when I want to be rich and I would use treasures like a stick of gum if I was just hungry at the time."

Espio giggled at the thought of killing a bunch of bad guys just so that they could get a stick of gum at the end. "Was the gum at least tasty?"

"Of course it was. It was the best-tasting fake gum that I ever had, and fortunately, it was the only fake gum that I ever had. Hopefully, it's the only fake gum that I'll ever have."

"You were really into the pretend games when you were younger, weren't you? I guess I was so focused with being a ninja when I was young that I never developed an imagination."

"That's a shame, because since I didn't have any brothers, I didn't exactly have a lot of adventure in my life. So when I started getting toys for my birthday and Christmas, I would bring them up to my room and I would make up the adventure. It definitely beat watching sports with my dad 24/7."

"Even though you do that a lot nowadays."

"Yeah, even though my dad and I never really got along with each other when I was growing up, I still ended up being a little like him. He was actually the first person to give me his approval when I told everyone that I wanted to be a detective and open up my own detective agency. My mom thought it would be a dangerous for me, but my dad thought that it would add culture and adventure to my life."

"In the past year, we have had quite a lot of adventures while in Team Chaotix. It's also nice to know that your dad was the one that got you into this."

"Yeah, I was so used to my mom being the one to tell me when I am doing something right, but when she didn't do it that time, it kind of just sucked for me. That's when my dad stepped in and told me why being in a detective agency would actually be a good thing."

"So after playing around with the ninja and other toys, I slowly began developing the motive to become a detective. A couple of years ago when I began my hiring process, I almost didn't know who I would pick. I knew that the people in my team would be in the team for a really long time, so I couldn't just pick them like I would pick my toys. I picked Mighty because of his determination, but I knew I needed more than just him. So I kept looking, and then you wanted to be apart of the team."

"To tell you the truth, Espio, you were the first person that came into my office who was actually a full-fledged ninja with several years of training and experience on your back. Also you were only 14, so you were definitely young enough to withstand a good detective beating for a long time. The minute you walked through that door, I thought about the ninja action figure that really started this whole thing." Vector paused for a second and said, "I almost wanted to hire you on the spot, but I just wanted to make sure that you were everything that I wanted, and you were."

Espio was a little shocked, because he was officially a remnant of Vector's childhood. "I made you think of your childhood? I can't believe that I would have had such an impact on your life and on this team." Espio was almost excited to hear that he was dating someone that he has already made an impact on. But, then something came to mind when he thought about dating Vector. This made him frown.

"Hey Vector?"

"Yeah, Espio?"

"I'm just curious, but is the main reason that you asked me out was because I reminded you of your childhood?"

Vector thought about why Espio would ask something like that, but then he realized that if he did that, that means he truly didn't love him. Vector… truly loves him. He shook his head and said, "No, Espio. I liked you as a partner because you reminded of the ninja in my bedroom. Now, I like you as a partner because you have shown me that you are determined that you can do anything, even if the situation seems crazy and impossible. You always seem to know a way out of the most sticky situations. Now, I like you as a friend because you have shown me that you always have my back whenever I'm not in the best mood or just really stressed. Now, I love you as a boyfriend because you have shown me how beautiful you really are, and I know that you will just return the love right back to me."

This brought a tear to Espio's eye, because he didn't realize that Vector could say something so poetic on a spontaneous moment. "That was really nice to hear, Vector. I guess I like you as a partner because you always are the hardest working person in the entire house. You always are working on the bills, trying to find clients, while also making sure Charmy and I are fine. I love you as a boyfriend, because you have shown me that you have cared for me. The fact that you love me back… it's nice." This was Espio's one true moment of weakness where his emotions finally take hold instead of his organized behavior.

Vector and Espio leaned in from across the table and their two lips melded into one. With this new information in mind, the two of them knew that they could live in eternal happiness with each other. They never knew that something like that was possible, but now it was especially clear.

Vector and Espio will be together forever.


	8. Chaotic Revelations

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 8 – Chaotic Revelations

**To all of my readers, I would like to thank you guys for your constant support and your lovely comments. I hope you all have a merry Christmas (or other holiday) and a Happy New Year. ~ Scorpclaw**

After finishing their kiss, Vector and Espio separated to notice that a couple of people in the restaurant were staring at them. Even though they were happy with what they just did, it didn't stop them from being incredibly embarrassed in front of a bunch of people. They tried to ignore all of the silent watchers as their faces began to turn a wild pink.

Though, the embarrassment didn't end when Katrina, Vector's friend, came over to their table with their food in her hands. While she was putting the food in front of them, "You two are definitely putting on a little show for us." This made Vector even more embarrassed, because him and Katrina were actually pretty good friends, and he would never hear the end of it from her.

"So… how long has this whole thing been going on, Vector?"

"It's actually only been a day so far, Katrina. I thought I would treat Espio to something nice so that we could get to each other."

Katrina smiled over to Espio and Espio, being polite, tried to return the smile. "Well, you're quite the romantic, detective. Hopefully you two have a nice date." She gave them one last smile before going off to give more food to the other tables.

Vector and Espio let out a little sigh of relief after she was gone. Espio then said, "That actually wasn't that bad. She didn't even seem freaked out that you were kissing another guy, especially since I'm your partner."

"That's Katrina for you. For the little time that I've known her, she has done nothing but nice things for me, like set up this date for us."

Espio sighed and thought about something. He thought back to when he was at the beach where Sonia told him that it was perfectly okay to like someone like Vector. What just happened kind of reminded him of the support that Sonia gave him. Without her, he might have not had the courage to tell Vector about his feelings for him. It made him want to tell other people about his relationship with Vector, even though his mind was telling him that it was a bad idea and people might retaliate badly.

Espio washed away the thought for now and then continued to just eat his food in silence, ignoring the people that continued to turn their heads towards them. Vector and Espio were thinking the same way, and they both just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. Even with those thoughts, though, they were still having a good time just being in each other's presence. They ate their wonderfully-cooked food in bliss and happiness, despite the awkward world that surrounds them.

After about a half hour of eating and continued talking, Vector paid for the check, despite complaints from Espio, and the two of them left for home. Upon arrival, they were cheerfully greeted by Charmy. He got bored while they were away, and he really wanted Vector or Espio to play with him. Espio promised that he would play with Charmy later, and then Charmy left the room to play some video games.

"You really know how to deal with that kid," Vector said.

"Well, he's been apart of the team for a long time, and it's easy to treat him as if he were family. Almost as if he were my little brother."

"You definitely treat him like a little brother. You don't seem like the playful type, and yet you always seem to like playing with him from time to time."

"He's always so cheerful and happy, even when days are so great. It's kind of difficult to say no to someone like that."

Vector smiled at Espio's innocence and whole-heartedness and kissed on the forehead, causing Espio to blush a little. The two of them then just stood there, thinking what they should say or do next. Espio then realized that he had something important to say that he knew that Vector wasn't going to like that much.

"Hey Vector?"

"Yeah?"

"Should we tell about us? Or really, should we start telling anybody about our relationship?"

This made Vector slightly uncomfortable, but it also caused him to think. He really liked Espio a lot, and he cherishes the love that they share, but he almost felt that telling people that he was in a gay relationship would ruin his reputation. "Do you really want to rush into this, Espio? We've only been dating for a single day, and I guess I just don't feel ready to tell anybody about us yet."

"Well, what's the difference between telling people now and telling people a year from now? Their reactions will still be generally the same no matter what we do or say to them."

"I don't know. I have had this secret since I was a little child. The only people that knew were my mom and Miss Vanilla as of last year. They're the nicest people that I know, so I knew that they would treat me all that badly if I told them the truth. Espio, I know other people are definitely not going to react as they did. In fact, I bet they will react really badly to it, and they won't even want to talk to us or even associate with Team Chaotix ever again."

"Vector, you are looking way too far into this. We have several good friends that we can rely on to keep this secret. Katrina seemed relaxed about the idea of our relationship, and Sonia, Sonic's sister, actually gave me helpful advice about asking you out. Without her, to tell you the truth, we wouldn't even be standing here talking about this."

"You told Sonic's sister that you liked me and she was okay with it?"

"Yes, she was. Sonic, Sonia, and Manic are practically one mind split into three different bodies, and I'm sure that all three of them would be comfortable about relationship. I even know for a fact that Sonic is gay, too."

This blew Vector's mind. "How would you know something like that?"

"Sonic had this friend at the beach. He was some green hedgehog that looked a lot like Sonic does. I don't even remember his name, nor do I even remember learning it. But the fact is, I know that the green hedgehog was a guy, and I caught the two of them kissing. They both seemed to like it, too."

Vector smiled at this new information. "Well, I guess that makes things easier."

"Yeah, so we know that we can easily come out to Sonic."

"Not only that, but we can have Sonic and this green guy cover for us. They can come out to everyone first, then we'll slip in and tell everyone. If they freaked out about Sonic, then they'll be a little calmer about us. It's a fantastic plan!"

"Hey, Vector. Can I tell you something that you may not about yourself?"

"Is it that I'm a genius?"

"Not exactly. You're a bit of a coward, you know that? You're just going to let Sonic and his boyfriend cover for us?"

"Well, it seemed like a good idea to me."

Espio sighed, but then laughed at Vector's expression. "It wasn't a bad plan; it was just a cowardly one." Espio thought for a second and then said, "Why don't we go to Vanilla's house today, and we can tell her together that we're now a couple. It wouldn't be that hard, because she already knows that you're gay, and she already knows that you liked me. So you would basically be telling her that you were successful in asking me out."

"But you're the one that kissed me."

"You can tell her whatever you please. The important thing is that you tell her and Cream."

Vector sighed and then said, "Alright, you got me, Espio. We'll leave in a few minutes and bring Charmy over to Vanilla's house so he could play with Cream. We'll chat for a little bit, and then… we'll tell her."

Espio smiled and nodded. "Good. I'll have Charmy get ready to go. You can get out of that suit. We don't need to be formal for this."

Vector then looked down and then realized that he had been wearing the suit the whole time. He then looked over at Espio, who was knocking on Charmy's door, and admired how well the suit fit to Espio skinny figure. He looked nice in it, Vector thought.

After those series of thoughts, Vector went into his room to get out of the suit. He then folded each piece so that it wouldn't wrinkle. He hoped that he would be wearing it again some time soon. He then put the suit away into his closet and then exited his room. When he did, he saw that Espio were already waiting in the kitchen, all ready to go to Cream and Vanilla's house.

"Vector, Espio says that both of you have a secret to tell. Tell me, tell me, tell!" Charmy was all ecstatic, because his curiosity is what makes up the most of him.

"We'll tell you, Cream, and Vanilla when we get there. Until then, why don't you be a good bee and keep your curiosity to yourself."

"Okay. Let's hurry up, then." Charmy then quickly flew out of the door, trying to get to Vanilla's as fast as possible.

Vector went to Espio's side and asked, "Why did you have wind him up like that?"

"He didn't want to go at first. He wanted to stay home and play video games all day, so I told him that I would tell him a little secret when we got to Vanilla's house."

"Man, Charmy's a hard bargainer."

"It's not a big deal, Vector. We were going to tell him anyway, so what difference does this make?"

"I guess it doesn't make a difference. But let's just hurry and get over to Vanilla's house and get this over with. The sooner that we tell everyone about us, the better."

"Fine."

The two of them then exited their home, closing the door behind them. They then ran for a minute so that they could catch up to Charmy, who was zipping around the open air gleefully. When they caught up, Espio and Vector slowed Charmy down and then continued to walk through the various meadows to get to Vanilla's house.

Espio always thought that the route to Vanilla's house was a nice and peaceful one. Not many are in this area, so it was nice and quiet while he admired the flora that grew around them. He didn't make this clear, though, because he didn't think that Charmy and Vector would appreciate flowers as much as he did.

When they arrived, Espio ended up knocking on the door since Vector didn't seem to have the courage to do so. They waited only a few moments until the door opened, revealing a tall rabbit by the name Vanilla. A younger and shorter rabbit named Cream was trailing behind her.

"Oh, hello. What brings the three of you?"

Espio smiled and said, "We just thought that it might be a nice day to visit you two. Sorry for no prior warning."

"Oh, that's quite alright, Espio. We always like some company. Please sit down and get yourself comfortable, and I'll make you some tea." Vanilla then went over to the kitchen as Vector, Espio, and Charmy enter the nice and simple home. Charmy went away to play with Cream, while Vector and Espio went over to a nearby couch in the living room.

"I think we should come up with a game plan to tell Vanilla about our relationship."

"Oh, I have a fantastic plan," Espio said in a sarcastic voice. "Why don't we just tell her?"

Vector gave Espio a dirty look. "So now that we're in a relationship, all of your ninja ways go away, and you can use sarcasm whenever you like."

"I only use it when I find it necessary. Vector, again you're making this too hard for yourself. All we have to do is wait for Miss Vanilla to return and tell her about our relationship. She already knows you're gay, so what can she possibly think?"

Vector sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Espio." The two of them then waited patiently on the couch. After only a minute, Vanilla returned with a tray with three glasses of tea.

"This is very nice of you, Vanilla. Thank you."

"You're very welcome, Espio. So anything new happening between the two of you? I haven't heard much news about Team Chaotix."

Espio's smiled faded when he said, "Well, Vector and I actually have a purpose for why we came over today. We have something important to tell you."

"What is it, Espio?"

"Well, I actually got into a relationship with Ve—"

"Vectilla," Vector interrupted. "One of Espio's girlfriends."

Espio then looked over to Vector with a very upset look on his face. What the heck did Vector just say?


	9. Orderly Wisdom

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 9 – Orderly Wisdom

"Well, Vector and I actually have a purpose for why we came over today. We have something important to tell you."

"What is it, Espio?"

"Well, I actually got into a relationship with Ve—"

"Vectilla," Vector interrupted. "One of Espio's girlfriends."

Espio then looked over to Vector with a very upset look on his face. What the heck did Vector just say?

Despite Espio's dirty look at Vector, Vanilla still said, "Oh, that's very nice, Espio. I was almost afraid that you would be too shy to get yourself into a relationship. I hope you and Vectilla become a happy couple in the future."

Espio was prepared to just tell Vanilla that what Vector said was a complete lie, but he didn't want to ruin Vector's comfort. He knew that Vector lied for a reason. "Yes, Vectilla and I are very happy with each other."

"That's very nice. Can you do me a favor, Espio? Can you check on the kids while I talk to Vector privately for a moment?"

Espio nodded and exited the room. Vanilla turned her attention to Vector and said, "How are you feeling about this, Vector?"

"What do you mean, Vanilla," Vector asked.

"I remember you telling me that you had some affectionate feelings towards Espio, and I was just curious about how you're taking his new girlfriend."

"Yes, well. Sometimes we have to move on," Vector lied. He didn't enjoy lying to Vanilla, or really lying to anyone in general. Though, he didn't even feel comfortable about talking about his relationship, even to a person who would support him, no matter what he decided to.

"Vector, do you truly like Espio?"

Vector paused and then thought back to last night when Espio kissed him. They truly liked each other, and they were in one of the best relationships that they can now share together. Now, Vector has disappointed Espio and has embarrassed the both of them in front of one of the most caring person: Vanilla.

"Yeah, I do. Listen, Vanilla. The stuff I said about Espio and his new so-called girlfriend is all a lie. I don't even know a person named Vectilla, nor do I know a parent who would be dumb enough to name a child that."

"Then, why did you tell me that Espio had a girlfriend if he doesn't?"

"I don't know. It was just a bad reaction, I guess. It was probably good that I said that to you instead of saying that to anyone else, though."

"Why is that?"

"Because… I'm the girlfriend, Vanilla. Or… boyfriend, I mean."

Vanilla blinked and looked at Vector curiously. She looked like she was thinking deeply about something, even though she knew what she was going to do next. Vanilla came in closer to Vector and brought him in for a hug.

"I'm glad that you are able to be so brave about saying something that's so uncomfortable to say to anyone."

"You're not upset that I lied to you?"

"Vector, you're in love. As much as I would not like you to hide things from me, I'd rather you be happy to do as you wish." The two separated and they both smiled. Vector looked to his left to see that Espio was standing at the entrance of the room with Cream at his side.

"How long have you two been there," Vector asked.

"Long enough to see how much you've changed, Vector. You're humble, and you are willing to correct your own mistakes. I was waiting for that to come out of you for… a long time." Espio went to Vector's side and they hugged each other.

When they separated, they both looked over at Vanilla. Vanilla looked down to Espio and said, "Espio, do you love Vector as much as he loves you?"

"I don't think there is anyone in this world that can love Vector as much as I do, Vanilla."

Vector blushed and almost felt like he was going to cry tears of joy. Though, he held himself back so that he wouldn't seem weak around Espio, Vanilla, and Cream. "If I told myself that I would be standing here in your home, Vanilla, and that I would be loved with one of my most cherished partners, I'd think I was crazy. But…" Vector couldn't finish that sentence.

Vector held back a tear long enough before one was finally released from his left eye, along with another from his right eye. Espio stood on his toes so he could reach up to Vector's head. He wiped away some of Vector's tears and then finally, they connected lips in a loving embrace.

Vanilla and Cream simply watched as Vector and Espio shared a simple act of love. They smiled, because in the quiet community that they live in, they don't get to see somebody quite as happy as this couple was.

When Espio stopped kissing Vector, Vector then finally stopped crying and "manned-up" so that he would be appropriate around Espio. They then looked over at Vanilla and Cream, but before they could even say anything, they were disrupted by a familiar bee who was just entering the room.

"Hey guys, I just went to the bathroom for a little bit. Did I miss anything?"

Vector, Espio, Cream, and Vanilla simply stared at Charmy for a good minute.

"Why are you guys staring me," Charmy tentatively asked.

Espio then began to chuckle to himself, because he had not realized that Charmy was in the room at all when they revealed that he was gay. Mainly, though, he just realized that the room was quieter and less rambunctious because Charmy wasn't there. "Please excuse my laughing, Charmy. I'm not laughing at you, I promise." Espio ended his laughing and turned to Vector.

Espio looked up and asked, "Do you think you can tell the story one more time?"

Vector looked up at Charmy who was flying towards and then turned his attention back to Espio. He was nervous, because he didn't know how it would be different to tell a child about one's sexuality, but he decided that that wasn't important at the moment. "Yeah, I think I can do that."

"Oh yeah! You two still have to tell me the secret that you've been keeping from me. You have to hold up your promise, Espio!"

"Yes, I believe that's fair Charmy," Espio stated maturely. "Why don't we all sit down and we'll discuss this together."

Espio then told Charmy about his and Vector's relationship. At first, Charmy thought it was a joke and thought that they were just trying to cover the true secret up, but Vector chimed in, letting Charmy know that they were serious. This made Charmy very slightly uncomfortable, because he didn't know what to think of a gay couple in the same home as his own, but he then began to warm up to it.

"Wait, if you two are going to be a couple, then that means both of you have to play with me when I'm bored!"

Vector whispered into Espio's ear, "Is that what I signed up for when I started liking you?"

Espio chuckled and quietly responded, "You better believe it. Charmy's now your child, too."

Vector playfully sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Charmy. You're never going to have a bored day for the rest of your life when you're with me and Espio."

Charmy cheered gleefully. "Yay, I knew that there was going to be something good to come out of this!"

Espio then grabbed Charmy's attention again and then got into a more serious matter. "Charmy, since I'm in a relationship with Vector, we might do some lovey-dovey stuff at the house. If anything we do makes you a little uncomfortable, you have to let us know. We love each other, but we also love you, and we don't want you locking yourself in your room if you don't want to watch something me and Vector are doing."

"Uh… sure, I can do that. Just keep the lovey-dovey stuff down. I don't want to get your guys' coodies." Charmy then went into the kitchen to go find something to eat.

Vector rolled his eyes. "Like a child."

Espio laughed to himself. "Well, let's just make sure that Charmy has a good childhood. He was sworn into Team Chaotix at a pretty young age, and eventually, his childhood is going to be gone. That's what happened to mine, and I don't want the same misery to befall on him."

Vector looked at him and asked, "You miss your childhood?"

"It's as if I'm missing a piece of the puzzle to my life. Now, I can't get it back."

Vanilla chimed in and said, "Well, Espio, it can't be all that bad."

Vector and Espio looked at Vanilla and Cream who was sitting next to them on the couch. Espio then said, "What do you mean by that, Vanilla?"

Vanilla laughed. "Espio, you're a young chameleon at the age of 16, and you're in a respectable relationship with someone that you actually love. Even if you didn't have a good, whole-hearted childhood, your future looks bright, and it is better than most people's future on this planet. It is a future that any adult would love to have."

Espio smiled. "Perhaps, I didn't see it that way. Vector and I haven't been together for that long, and I'm already very happy to continue my life with him. I can only imagine what that could bring me in the future."

Vector turned Espio around and said, "I think I could give you an idea. Do you want to see it?" Espio nodded and Vector gently kissed him on the lips. Vector was right, if the future holds more of these kinds of moments, then the future was going to be truly bright for Espio.

Espio separated the kiss. He then said, "We probably shouldn't do that around Cream. Her young eyes shouldn't have to see this."

"You're probably right."

Cream then said, "I'm not that young. I want to be able to spread the powers of love, too."

Vanilla turned Cream around and said, "As wonderful as that it, Cream, you still don't fully understand what love is. It is a complicated thing."

"I guess you're right, mother."

Vanilla and Cream then turned their attention back to Vector and Espio. Vector then said, "This has been a good day so far."

Vanilla nodded. "We must take the two of you to dinner one day. It's to celebrate your new relationship."

Espio smiled and said, "Yes, maybe one day. But, for now, I think it would be best if Vector and I headed home. I'm glad that we had this visit, and it has been very beneficial for the both of us to come out to somebody."

"I understand. Vector, keep this in mind, there are going to be different people with different reactions to your relationship. You just have to understand that people will not always react positively. With Espio at your side, though, hopefully everything will work out nicely in your favor."

Vector nodded and said, "I may have to overcome some stuff first before I go and tell more people. I need to develop my relationship with Espio so that I can tell everyone stories about how happy I am."

Espio added, "And how happy you will be."

"That's right."

Vanilla smiled, "Well, then good luck. I hope you do well with your relationship. I'm sure Vectilla wouldn't mind at all if Vector takes Espio off of her hands."

Vector blushed brightly and Vanilla's joke. She doesn't joke around often, and it was always especially funny when she did. "Thanks, Vanilla."

Espio laughed. "Hopefully we'll see you soon and take you up on that offer for dinner."

"It'll be my pleasure."

Vector and Espio then got up and grabbed Charmy from the kitchen, who was still searching the various cupboards for something to eat. Charmy just figured that he would raid the refrigerator when they got home. The three of them then exited the home, saying goodbye to the two rabbits.

As they went back home, Vector and Espio were proud to hold their hands together as a new, open couple. Charmy thought it was kind of funny that they were holding hands, but Vector and Espio simply ignored his jokes. He was a kid, after all.

"What's our next move," Vector asked.

"I think we should get the word out about Team Chaotix again," Espio stated without pause. "Team Chaotix brought us together, and Team Chaotix will keep us together."

"I agree."


	10. Orderly Games

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 10 – Orderly Games

Vector, Espio, and Charmy made it home in only a few minutes. Something that was convenient about the Chaotix' home was that it was close to many of their friends' home. When they went in through the door, Charmy headed into his room while Espio and Vector stayed behind to talk to each other.

"So are you really serious about making us Team Chaotix again?"

"Of course I'm serious. We've had so many good times while we were a team and did missions together. We have the resources, so we can definitely make that happen again."

"We may have the resources, Espio. But what do you plan on doing in order to get the missions coming again. We've been away from the detective stuff for so long, I'm pretty sure everyone has forgotten about us already."

"We're just going to have to figure out a way to advertise our detective agency again. Maybe you can ask some of your previous clients to recommend us to some of their friends."

"I don't know. Not a lot of people are going to really be wanting a detective agency since everything's been so quiet lately."

"Well, we aren't going to get anywhere if we don't try something and just give up. There has to be someone out there who has some kind of issue that we can look into. It probably won't be big or anything, but it'll get us off of our feet or something."

Vector sighed, but ended up smiling afterwards. "I guess you're right, Espio. I'll call Katrina and some of my other colleagues tomorrow morning and ask them to help us out."

"Thanks, Vector." Espio stood on his toes and gave Vector a short kiss on the lips. Vector blushed and ducked down to give Espio another kiss.

"Until then, we still have a couple of hours left of today. What do you want to do?"

"I don't really know. We can't really do anything with the little time that we have in the day. Do you have any ideas of your own?"

Vector thought about it for a second and then said, "Maybe we can do something a little fun before we head to bed."

"What are you suggesting?"

Vector smiled and said, "Can you grab the deck of cards in the cupboard and bring them into my office?"

Espio nodded and went over to one of the cabinets and tried to get up to reach it. It was high up on the wall, and Espio was pretty sure that there was no way that he could get up to it. Embarrassed, Espio went into Vector's office empty-handed. Vector gave Espio a confused look and asked, "Do you not know where the cards are?"

"I do know where they are. I just… can't exactly reach them. I don't even know why you have a cabinet that's up so high."

Vector stepped out of the office and checked out the aforementioned cabinet. He looked at how high the cabinet was and then looked back to see how short Espio was. This made Vector chuckle when he noticed that Espio would never be able to reach that cabinet at his height. "I guess I kind of figured you would have hit your growth spurt in the past few years while you were with us. I guess I was wrong."

"My brother tells me that my family is made up of tall people. He was tall and somehow I managed to avoid the gene for good height. Dating someone who is practically twice my height isn't going to be that easy for me."

"Yes. But that means I get to do things like… this." Vector then grabbed Espio from his armpits and began to raise him up, causing a slight gasp to escape from the sudden movement. Vector brought Espio close enough to the cupboard so that he could open it and grab the cards that were stored inside.

When he got them, he asked Vector to lower him. Vector did so and kissed Espio on the lips on the way down. "You're really cute when you're in my arms."

Espio blushed madly, his muzzle turning a deep pink color. "Heh, thanks. Can you put me on the ground now?"

"Sure." Vector gently put Espio on the ground. "Alright, so let's bring these cards into my office."

The two of them entered the office while Espio tried to get the cards out of the case that they're in. When he did, he sat on the ground across from Vector and placed the cards in between the two of them. "I don't exactly get it, Vector. I'm curious as to what game you would be so excited to play."

"You'll see." Vector grabbed the deck of cards and began to shuffle them in the professional casino style. "This game is called Card Dares. It's normally played with an entire party of people, but we can play it with just two people. All you do is you grab one card from the deck in the center, and that card will tell you what dare you have to do."

"How will I know what I have to do from just some number?"

"I'm getting to that. Face cards and Aces mean that your turn is skipped and you don't have to do a dare. 2 through 6 cards allow me to choose what you have to do. 7 through 10 cards have specific purposes. We'll just wait till we get one of those to explain what each of those do."

"Alright."

"Rookie starts it, then."

Espio grabbed the card at the top of the deck. He flipped it up to himself, smiled, and then showed it to Vector. It turned out to be an Ace. "It looks like the master is going to start this one."

Vector sighed but smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Vector drew a card and unluckily drew a 2. "Well… what do you want me to do?"

"Hm… I'm not fond of giving you a dare, but it looks like I'm going to have to. I dare you to…" Espio looked outside of the room to get some ideas. He spotted Charmy who was entering the kitchen to get a snack and got a good idea for a good dare. "I dare you to go up to Charmy and tell him to go to his room for no reason."

Espio began chuckling to himself, which gave Vector the indication that he was actually serious. 'He can do so many things on missions, but when it comes to dares, he's not exactly daring,' Vector thought to himself. "Alright, Espio. I'm almost reluctant to do this dare, but I guess I have to do it."

Espio continued to laugh silently as Vector exited the office. Vector went up to Charmy and said, "Hey Charmy, can you go to your room?"

"Yeah, I was going there anyways. Goodnight, Vector." Charmy then flew over to his room and closed the door. Vector returned to the office and went back his original sitting place.

"I think he took it pretty hard," Vector said, resisting the urge to laugh.

"I would've done it with a little more emotion that you did, but you did enough to complete your dare. I guess it's my turn again."

Espio drew a King, which excused him from yet another dare. Vector sighed and drew 5, which meant that Espio would have his way with him again. They continued to do this for a good hour. Espio got pretty lucky for a little while with his face cards, but eventually he ended up getting several number cards. Though, since Espio kept throwing petty dares, Vector decided to take it easy on his and did some pretty pathetic dares as well.

When the clock struck 11:00, the two of them were pretty worn out from the day and decided that it was time to go to bed. Espio put away the deck of cards, except he put it into a drawer that was at an easy reach rather than putting it in some impossible-to-reach cupboard. Afterwards, Espio instinctively went to his room to go to bed, but Vector decided to stop him before he could enter.

"Why don't you spend the night with me tonight, Espio?"

"You really want me to sleep in the same bed as you, Vector? Doesn't that make you uncomfortable?"

"I wouldn't have asked you if it made me uncomfortable."

"Yes, but what if Charmy comes in on us. We promised him that we wouldn't do anything around him that he might consider to be weird."

"Well… he's going to have just deal with it, then. Besides, why would he walk in on us in the middle of the night? It's not like he's stalking me or anything."

"I guess you're right."

"You worry too much, Espio. I love you, and I think that's all that should matter, right now. Don't you agree?"

"Yeah, I agree. Let's go." Espio closed his door and then followed Vector to his bedroom. Vector's room was a bit of a mess, but it didn't bother Espio too much. Vector took of his shoes and socks, and Espio did the same. He left his gloves and wrist bracelets on though, because he never seems to want to take those off.

Vector then went the bed and scooted over to leave room for Espio to join him. Espio got into the bed as well and shut off the lamp on the nearby table, leaving the room to be only lit by the moonlight outside. Espio felt an arm cross over him, which made him nice and comfortable. He knew that this would be a nice night.

The next morning, Espio woke up early as he normally does. But he woke up to somebody that he didn't expect to be in their room. Charmy was flying over the bedside and noticed when Espio began to open his eyes. "I was going to ask you guys to play with me, but this is just too weird."

Espio chuckled to himself. "Come on, Charmy. Nothing is going to be different now that Vector and I are in a relationship." Espio then got out of bed, trying not to wake up his deep-sleeping partner. He put his shoes and socks back on and turned to face Charmy again. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. The sun hasn't gone up yet, so we can't really do anything right now."

Espio turned around to look at Vector's digital clock and noticed that it was only 5:30 in the morning. "Charmy, a growing child should have more sleep than what you're getting right now. It's 5:30. Try to sleep in more."

"Why? You were going to wake up right now anyways."

"I'm older, and I don't need as much sleep. Get at least 1 more hours of sleep and I'll treat you to something nice. I promise."

"Really? What is it?"

"I won't tell you until you get some more sleep, alright."

Charmy sighed. "Fine, Espio. I hope it's something really special!" Charmy then went out of the room, making everything silent again.

Espio turned around to notice that Vector was sitting up in his bed, smiling at him. "I'm sorry Vector. Charmy and I must have wakened you up."

"Don't worry about it, Espio. It was actually kind of nice to see you negotiate with Charmy like that. I've been trying to get that kid to wake up later for ages."

Espio went over to the bed and sat down next to Vector. "I guess you just need the proper touch with a kid like that. He's smart, so you can't play games with him."

"Yeah, almost too smart."

"Well, he's lived here for quite a long time, and he's learned from the best."

"Who, you?"

Espio chuckled a little and gave Vector a light kiss on the cheek. "As flattering as that it, I was actually talking about you."

"What could he possibly learn from me?"

"He's learned your stubbornness pretty well."

Vector laughed. "How is that a good thing?"

"It is a little. When people negotiate with him on missions, he doesn't give in to ridiculous requests."

"Yes, but put a video game in front of him and he'll cave."

"I guess that's true." Espio got off of the bed and headed for the door. "I'm going to head to the supermarket. I know you're tired, but maybe you can call Katrina and talk about the Chaotix thing."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that. Be back soon. I don't want to be home alone when Charmy wakes up."

Espio chuckled to himself as he exited the home. When Espio left, Vector slowly got up from his bed and went to the phone. "Time to make a team again."


	11. Orderly Team

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 11 – Orderly Team

In the Chaotix home, Charmy was in a deep sleep, Espio was out shopping at the supermarket to get groceries to fill the cupboards, and Vector was finally making phone calls to his old colleagues. Vector was finally going to start Team Chaotix up again, something he had given up and forgotten about for all too long. His first call was to the waitress at Vinegar Hall, Katrina, who was one of his closest colleagues and friends.

After dialing a few numbers and listening to a few rings, Vector finally heard a voice come up on the phone. He responded to the delighted hello with, "Hey Katrina, I hope I'm not interrupting anything. This is Vector and I wanted to ask you a few questions."

"Hi, Detective Vector. No, I'm not busy at all right now. I have the day off from the Vinegar Hall, so you can ask me as many questions as you want."

"Thanks, Katrina," Vector said with a vivid smile. "So… it's been a while since Team Chaotix has been around, and Espio and I feel that ought to get back on its feet again."

"I can imagine. With that new relationship of yours, I'm sure you two want to be apart of the action again."

Vector was thankful he was talking on the phone because Katrina can't see the slight blush on his face. "Yeah, I guess you can say that. But that's not really the point I'm trying to get at. Since we've been gone for so long, I'm sure that most of our older clients have forgotten about us. We just need some help to get the word out there about the Chaotix again."

"Would you like me to advertise you guys in the Vinegar Hall," Katrina asked curiously.

"Something like that. Please don't do it, though, if it might get you fired for advertising when you aren't supposed to."

"Believe me, I am at the top of the class at that restaurant and I know the manager very well. I won't be getting fired for something like that anytime soon."

"That's good to hear. Then maybe you can do that and you can mention us to some of your friends or something."

"Will do, Detective Vector! Is there anything else that you would like to ask me?"

"No, I'm pretty sure that's it. Thanks, Katrina. I might stop by the restaurant again one of these days. I'll bring Espio."

Katrina gave out a small giggle. "I look forward to it. You have a good day."

They both said goodbye said to each other and then hung up the phone. Vector felt pretty confident that Katrina's effort would bring in at least one or two clients to help out the team, but he knew he was going to need a bit more, and he also knew that his other clients weren't going to be quite as helpful as Katrina was.

First on his trip, Espio went to a hardware store to get a couple of tools to fix some of the disheveled areas of the kitchen. A couple of weeks ago, Espio and Charmy's "playtime" became a little erratic, and Charmy ended up crashing into a couple of cupboards, damaging them. Espio blames himself for the incident since he got Charmy all wound up, and he never liked blaming Charmy for certain damages since he was only a child that was still learning.

He grabbed a couple of hinges to keep the cupboard doors from hanging and a couple of other materials to cover up a somewhat big spot on the wall. While he was getting these things, though, he ended up running into some friends. Luckily, the people he ran into were Sonic and his green hedgehog friend, Scourge.

"Hi, Sonic," Espio said in his normal deep voice.

Sonic was made a little uncomfortable by Espio's presence, especially since Espio was the first person to see him and Scourge kissing. Though, he pushed it aside and just said a simple, "Hello."

"What brings you to the hardware store? Does your house need fixing?"

Sonic responded by saying, "No, Tails asked me to get him some materials since he was too busy with some project to get them himself. But I'm pretty sure I don't know what any of these materials are and where I would find them."

"Perhaps, I can help you find them. It'll give us a chance to talk."

This made both Sonic and Scourge uncomfortable, since there is going to be a definite topic that's going to be discussed as they looked around. Though, Sonic knew that he was going to have to tell more and more people about his relationship with Scourge, so he just went with it. He knew that telling Espio meant telling the whole Chaotix, so that's three people down with one stone.

"Alright, Espio. Thanks for the help."

The three of them then walked around the store, hoping to find an indicator as to where some materials might be. At first, things were kind of quiet in the group, but Sonic decided to break the ice a little.

"So… Espio. What did you think of… what happened at the beach?"

Espio looked over at Sonic, knowing exactly what he was talking about. Now that Espio is in the same situation as Sonic (since Espio is in a relationship with Vector), he knew exactly how to respond. "I'm very open-minded. I quite frankly think that the two of you make a good couple. Though, I don't know Scourge very well, so I guess I can't really make that call."

This time, Scourge spoke up. "I'm surprised at your response, Espio."

"Why is that?"

"You seem like the kind of guy who keeps with his traditions and makes sure that everything is perfectly normal."

"If I were with my family still, I would probably conform to a more traditional style. Though, now that I'm on my own and have a team with Vector and Charmy, I feel that I can think independently instead of thinking the way that I'm supposed to."

Scourge nodded in agreement. "Conformity can drive anyone mad."

"Yeah, it can. In addition to what I said, I actually have a bit of a confession of my own to make." Espio was about to reveal his secret to Sonic and Scourge, since they would be obviously understanding of his situation.

"Oh, hold that thought, Espio," Sonic started. "I'm sure I found the screws that Tails was looking for."

Scourge took a look at it and then gave Sonic a brief and funny look. "Sonic, those are bolts and not screws. Tails has clearly sent the wrong people to find some of the most difficult materials."

Sonic laughed tentatively to himself. "Yes, well, I'm trying." Sonic turned back to Espio after failing at finding Tails' materials. "What were you talking about, Espio? Something about a confession."

Espio was about to simply tell them about his relationship with Vector, but after getting distracted, he realized that he wanted to tell people only when Vector was there with him. It was Vector that made everything more comfortable for him. So instead, Espio just went to a topic that was perhaps better than the last. "Oh, I just wanted to let you know that Team Chaotix is finally coming back."

Scourge gave Espio a somewhat confused look. "What's Team Chaotix?"

Sonic turned over to Scourge and explained, "Team Chaotix is a detective agency that Espio is in with a crocodile named Vector and a bee named Charmy."

"A bee, a crocodile, and a chameleon," Scourge started. "Seems like a match made in heaven," Scourge said in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

Espio smiled and said, "You have no idea how unusual it is to have a team like them, but it somehow works out in the end."

Sonic nodded. "So… are you guys getting much assignments now that the whole team is back together?"

"We only decided to start advertising ourselves today, which I guess leads me to a question. Vector's at home asking his old clients for their service, but I guess we can use as much as we can get. Do you two you think you can find any friends that might need a detective agency?"

"Things haven't really been happening lately with me or my friends, so I doubt they'll need it, but if we find something, then you'll be the first person I call."

Espio smiled. "Thanks, Sonic." Espio takes out a small flier that he had been carrying in his pocket. He handed it to Sonic and said, "If you do find something, all of the information is on that piece of paper. Just call us or come to us at our home and we'll help you out."

"Alright, Espio."

The three of them then continued to look for the materials that Tails had asked for while they all talked about Team Chaotix. Sonic continued to explain to Scourge the things that the Chaotix have done to assist him, and Espio brought them up to speed of what they've been doing recently. Espio never realized that he could be such good friends with Sonic. Perhaps it was because both of their situations are just about the same and the fact that they all understand each other.

After eventually finding all of the screws and other equipment, Sonic and Scourge said goodbye to Espio and they went their separate ways.

A couple hours later, Espio returned home with some of his groceries and noticed that Vector was eating a sandwich at the kitchen table. Espio dropped the bags of groceries onto the counter and went over to sit at the table, kissing Vector on the cheek on the way to his chair.

"So did you make any progress with advertising Team Chaotix, Vector?"

"Kind of. Soon after you left I called Katrina, and she told me that she would tell her friends all about us, but then I called Fico and he was a bit of a jerk."

"Fico the banker? One day, I plan on going down to that bank of his and getting the money he owes us from doing that mission for him."

Vector chuckled to himself. He remembered that he and Espio did a mission to find some money that Fico lost. Unfortunately, it was the bank's money, so if Fico lost it, then he would most certainly have been fired. When they found the money in an unknown safe, they asked for their money, and the banker paid in an I.O.U. That was a couple of years ago, and they are still expecting to get their money.

"Yeah, I'd imagine that Fico would be a bit unhelpful. He was pretty snobby when we knew him."

"I don't even know why I called him after Katrina. After he yelled at me to go get the team started myself, I was too uncomfortable to make anymore calls."

"So we only have one person helping us out at the moment?"

"Yep, that's right."

Espio rolled his eyes and smirked. "You're lucky I ran into Sonic today."

"Why is that?"

"We ran into each other at the hardware store, and he has agreed to help us out by asking some of his friends. Since Sonic and his friends seem to always be in trouble for something, then I'm sure we're bound to get something from them."

"That's good, Espio." Vector down towards Espio and examined his straight face. "Though, I'm sure it would be better if we had more clients to help us out. Maybe I should finish this sandwich and make some more calls."

Espio smiled and nodded his head. "Yeah, you probably should. I'll put these groceries away and I'll go help you out, afterwards."

"Fine." Vector put the last piece of his sandwich into his mouth and then exited the kitchen so that he could into his office.

After Vector, Espio continued to put away the groceries when he heard a slight buzzing enter the kitchen. Espio turned around and noticed that Charmy had entered the kitchen, clearly wanting something from Espio.

"Do you need something, Charmy?"

"Yeah, Espio. You promised that if I slept in a little bit more that you had a surprise for me. Well I slept more, now I want to see what you have for me."

Espio couldn't help but smile at the child's persistent antics. "Fine, I guess you caught me. I was wondering if you would like to accompany me to the park. We can invite Cream and Miss Vanilla if you would like."

"Really? You hate the park."

"Yes, but it's your little reward. How does that sound?"

"It sounds great. Thanks, Espio."

Charmy buzzed away from the kitchen and went into his room to get ready for the park. Espio simply chuckled at how Charmy made him feel. Being around Charmy almost made him feel like a dad. This is something that was different for him, since most of his life consisted of him dealing with a high power. Now, he felt like the higher power. It brought a smile to his face as he put away the rest of the groceries.


	12. Orderly Childhood

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 12 – Orderly Childhood

Espio went into Vector's office and noticed that he was on the phone with someone. Based on what Vector was saying, Espio could tell that he was talking someone named Pike. Espio didn't quite recognize the name from any of the clients that they've had before.

Espio listened into the conversation and noticed Vector's attempt to be mature on the phone call, using larger words than he normally would and he didn't seem quite as ambitious as he normally does. Though, Espio could tell that Vector was struggling with this since at times, he stuttered. Espio thought it was kind of cute to see Vector acting a different than he normally did. It reminded Espio of himself since he was so serious and mature all of the time.

Though, the phone call didn't last so long and it unfortunately ended with Vector apologizing to Pike, which Espio just assumed that yet another client ignored them. Upon putting down the phone and ending the phone call, Vector noticed Espio at the door and frowned.

"Pike had a little bit of trouble figuring out who we were. You would think that finding and saving his son from a nearby cave would be enough to be remembered by the guy forever, but I guess that isn't how things work."

"It isn't really something to get worked up about. He's just one client. And besides, I don't even remember who he is, nor do I remember finding someone's son in some cave."

"How can you not remember something like that? It was one of our biggest adven-…" Vector then about the past mission again and then came to a realization. "Oh yeah, you weren't on that mission because you were sick!"

"Really? I remember that time. I never get sick, and the minute I do because of some horrible cooking, I miss three missions in one week. It was an all-time record for us."

"Yeah, I remember that. And… wait. I'm the one who cooks for you if you don't cook for us, and we didn't go out to eat much before today. Are you saying that you got sick because of my cooking?"

Espio chuckled. "Vector, the doctor said food poisoning and a bad case of it. I had some meat that you cooked up the night before. Obviously that was what did it because it was cold and there was a lot of fat on it."

"Oh yeah… and that's when you forced Charmy and I to go on a healthier diet to lose weight, so we didn't have any. Maybe I was trying to get back at you." Vector laughed briskly to himself.

Espio rolled his eyes. "Oh… you're going to get a nice surprise in your dinner tonight, Vector. It's going to be special, I guarantee it."

Vector gave Espio a smug face and said, "I can't wait."

Espio laughed and was about to say something when someone tapped him on the shoulder from behind. Espio turned around and noticed that Charmy was all geared up and ready for the park. "Come on, Espio. The day is only so long and I want to go to the park for a really long time."

Espio smiled and nodded. "Just wait over by the door and I'll be out in a minute."

Charmy quickly nodded and flew over to the door where he waited patiently for Espio to accompany him.

"What's Charmy talking about, Espio," Vector asked.

Espio reverted his attention to Vector and responded, "I promised him that I would go to the park with him so that he can play and have a good time. I was going to leave you alone to make more phone calls to other clients, but you seem like you hate it a lot. Why don't you come with us?"

Vector smiled and said, "Anything is better than what I'm doing right now. Believe it or not, I actually don't like being yelled at and rejected all that much."

Espio smirked, "Alright, that's good. It seems that Charmy is getting impatient at the door, so let's get going."

Vector got up from his chair and left the side of the phone. He and Espio went out of the office and approached Charmy while he waited patiently at the door.

Espio kneeled down to be at Charmy's level and asked, "Ready to go?"

"Of course, Espio. I've only been standing here for a thousand minutes," Charmy exaggerated.

"Alright. We're going to stop by Miss Vanilla's home to see if they would like to join us at the park. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

"Yeah! Cream and I haven't played much recently, and she's the only one who is my age who wants to play with me."

Espio smiled and replied, "Then we're all set to go." Espio opened the door and Charmy briskly flew out.

Upon Charmy's exit, Vector put a hand on Espio's shoulder, causing him to turn around so that they would face each other. "Have I told you how cute you are when you talk to Charmy like that?"

Espio blushed heavily, despite his fair attempt to keep that from happening. "No, but I wouldn't mind it if you do."

Vector chuckled. "Let's go, Espy. We have a park playdate to go to."

Espio and Vector left the home, closing the door behind them. The three of them then began walking the short distance between their home and Vanilla's home. Espio and Vector stayed together as they walked casually, admiring the scenery as the sun shined brightly on it, while Charmy flew ahead, clearly eager to get to the park to have a good time with Cream.

After a good 15 minutes of walking (or flying in Charmy's case), the three of them finally arrived at Vanilla's home. Espio was going to knock kindly on their door, but Charmy managed to stay ahead of them and decided to knock 5 times at a quick pace.

"Charmy, please don't be fast when knocking at someone's door. It is a rude disturbance."

"Sorry, Espio. I just want to go to the park and play."

"I understand. Just know that knocking on the door faster isn't going to get them to open it any faster."

After the brief lecture from Espio to Charmy, the door opened slowly, revealing Vanilla on the other side.

"Oh, Espio and Vector. It's nice to see you again. Is there something else that you need?"

Espio smiled and responded, "No, Miss Vanilla. We promised Charmy that we would take him to the park to play, and we were all wondering if you and Cream would like to come along with us."

Vanilla thought about it only for a brief of moment before calling Cream to come see her at the door. Without any hesitation, Cream went over to her mother and noticed the visitors at the door.

"Oh hello Mister Vector and Espio. Hi Charmy. What are you doing here?"

Charmy smiled and laughed before responding, "Vector and Espio are taking me to the park, and we wanted to invite you to come with us. It's going to be so much fun since we haven't done anything like this in a really, really long time."

Cream smiled, and was happy to hear about Charmy's desire to go to the park. "That does sound like fun, Charmy. Can we go, Mama?"

Vanilla smiled and her young child and responded, "I don't see why not. After the experience we had last night, I think we should take the opportunity to spend more time with Team Chaotix."

Cream giggled in agreement before exiting the door and going to talk to Charmy about recent events since they haven't talked in-depth in a while. Soon after Cream ran out, Vanilla followed her and closed the door behind her.

Vanilla smiled and said, "Lead the way. We have plenty to talk about."

Espio and Vector nodded and began walking in the direction of the local park with Cream and Charmy trailing closely behind them.

The local park was actually pretty large even though there aren't a lot of people living in the direct area that have children to bring there anymore. It was somewhat special for Charmy, because it was the only place where he can find a pure sense of sanctuary, much like how Vector finds sanctuary in his office and how Espio finds it while meditating in his room.

Whenever he goes with Cream, it gives him a chance to talk to and socialize with someone who is actually his age. He's only a young child and he does missions for a detective agency. Both Espio and Vector have learned over the years that Charmy needs to actually know what it's like to be a kid before he loses his youth when he grows older. 'Once it passes, it's gone forever,' Espio likes to think. He especially understands this concept, since his parents didn't quite provide him with a proper childhood either.

10 minutes after leaving Vanilla's house, they all finally arrive at the playground, which was empty as expected. Cream and Charmy were eager to get onto the large platform where they could run around, go down the several slides, and swing on the swing set. It was an experience that they rarely get to have since Vector and Espio rarely give Charmy the chance to go. Vanilla simply took Espio and Vector under a nearby tree with her so that they could talk while their 'children' played amongst themselves.

"I'm glad you invited me and Cream to come to the park with all of you. She doesn't get to play with people her age all that much."

Vector nodded his head and said, "We feel the same way about Charmy."

Vanilla continued to smile when she said, "I'm also glad to see how much has changed in such a short amount of time."

Espio looked over to Vanilla and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Vanilla responded, "We haven't spoken much since last night, Espio. We don't get very many visits from people in Green Hill Zone. Amy's visits have been dwindling as well as everyone else's. Now that you and Vector are in a relationship, though, something tells me that that's going to change."

Espio nodded his head and looked over to Vector, who was smiling. "Yeah, I think you're right. I don't think I truly understood what part of life I have been missing out on until the day that I told Vector that I liked him. Now, I feel connected to friendship and love and everything in between. It feels… completely new to me."

"I'm sure you'll learn that it is one of the greatest emotions to have in any situation. Something I have learned after caring for Cream for so many years is that happiness is only real if it is shared with somebody else."

Vector stepped into the conversation and said, "I can agree with that. I remember when I used to just lock myself in my office to watch something on my TV, and I guess I didn't realize that I was missing something in my life."

Espio chuckled. "Yeah, you were too busy realizing what channels were missing on your TV and trying to figure out how you could get them."

Vector blushed and Vanilla giggled softly to herself. "I wasn't all that bad. Some of the channels I left alone. I have some sense of self-control."

"If you say so, Vector."

Vector smiled and said, "Oh come on, Espio. As if you didn't busy yourself with stupid things."

Espio smirked and said, "Oh yeah? I bet you can't name one."

"A month ago, you were in your room for three hours just to shine your shurikens and even after you left your room, you still told me that they weren't clean enough."

Espio frowned. "What can I say? A shiny shuriken makes for a sharper edge."

Vanilla smiled and said, "Alright that's enough boys. Aren't we supposed to be talking about the future than the past?"

Espio laughed and said, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

The three of them continued to enjoy each other's company, watching as their children enjoyed their time at the playground. It was definitely a nice afternoon to remember.


	13. Orderly Life Anew

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 13 – Orderly Life Anew

As Vector watched Charmy play cheerfully with Cream on the small playground and as he felt Espio's head lean on his shoulder, he began thinking about the future, just as Vanilla wanted him to. He had been through so much in his life, thinking that things weren't going to get much further than his participation in Team Chaotix. Yet, here he was, with his boyfriend leaning against his shoulder, watching as his "child" enjoyed his childhood. It seems like such a traditional lifestyle, but Vector didn't seem to want to have it any other way.

Though, he knew exactly what would be the one thing to make his life complete.

"Hey, Espio."

Espio turned his head up from Vector's shoulder and replied with a "Yes?"

"After this, I'm going to make phone calls to everyone that we know and start Team Chaotix up again as soon as possible. I don't even care if I get yelled at by all of the stupid clients."

"I almost thought you would just give up on the whole concept of doing detective work anymore just because of a few ignorant clients. What made you change your mind?"

"I don't know. With all of this happening right now, it kind of reminds me how much I liked it."

Espio smiled. Vector didn't show it much, but he actually had a strong amount of sentiment and feeling when it came to things that he liked. It was the first time that Vector showed this sentiment to Espio in a long time, and it made him kind of happy. It shows a hidden emotion that has never been present in Team Chaotix. "Yeah, I know what you mean by that. We shouldn't have given up on it so quickly."

"We shouldn't have given up on it at all. We had a good thing going for a little while and now it looks like we missed a pretty good opportunity."

"Well… we can always get that opportunity back."

"Yeah, we can."

Vector continued to sit there with a smile on his face, watching as everything in his life played out perfectly for him. They stayed at the playground for another hour until Vanilla finally declared that they should be heading home. Since they were there for a couple of hours, Espio, Vector, and Charmy all agreed that they were hungry and were ready to eat dinner.

As they returned home without the company of Cream and Vanilla, they were able to appreciate the very scenic route as it was lit up by the setting sun. Vector and Charmy didn't really take much notice, but Espio did. He had some kind of connection with nature that he knew the others didn't, but that didn't change the way he looked at it.

"Would you two like me to cook dinner tonight," Espio asked. "I got some groceries this morning, so I'll be able to cook some spaghetti or something like that."

"I think I'm going to cook tonight, Espio," Vector offered. "You know… only if you want me to. I don't want to give you food poisoning or anything like that."

Espio smiled and nodded his head. "I think that's nice, Vector."

Charmy didn't have quite as much enthusiasm. "If you're going to cook something, Vector, then be sure to cook something good. I'm starving from playing for hours on the playground."

Espio gave Charmy a straight face and responded, "I'm sure Vector is going to make us a wonderful dinner Charmy. Even if you don't like it, be sure to thank Vector for his effort. It's nice of him to cook for us after all."

"Yeah, I'll let my stomach decide if it was nice of him to cook for us."

Espio was going to scold Charmy for saying, but then Vector began to chuckle from Charmy's antics. "I'll make something good, you got it Charmy? I'll make you eat those words… almost as fast as you'll eat my pizza when I cook it."

Espio looked up to Vector as they walked and asked, "You're going to cook pizza?"

"Of course, and it's going to be the best pizza you're ever going to eat in your life."

Espio chuckled, because he didn't think that Vector could cook much, let alone cook an entire pizza that's actually good. "I'll take your word for it, Vector."

It only took the trio another few minutes to return to their home. Upon entering the home, Charmy went to his room and Vector went into the kitchen with Espio following closely behind him.

"Are you sure you want to cook for us, Vector? I have faith that you will make something good for us, but what about the several phone calls that you said you were going to make to start up Team Chaotix 'as soon as possible'."

"Well… I wanted to do something for you first. You always seem to be everything around here, including taking care of Charmy when he's being a little brat sometimes. I thought I would cook for you again."

"Yeah, but I like doing that stuff for you two. It's my way of showing my appreciation for all that you have done for me. Now that we're in a relationship, I want to show my appreciation even more."

"That's the same for me, Espio. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't feel like I was doing something useful for you."

Espio smiled and blushed. "I see. Then I guess we'll switch jobs for an evening. You'll cook for us, and I'll make phone calls to our previous clients. That shouldn't be a difficult task to do."

"Yeah… I guess that you can try that on your own. Some clients might be a little difficult to deal with, though. There's a list of phone numbers that you can try calling on my desk."

"Alright." Without saying another word, Espio simply left the kitchen, leaving Vector to make his own pizza. Espio was a little skeptical that Vector would be able to do it, but he had some form of faith that Vector could actually do it. He entered the office and searched for both the list and the phone.

Once he did, he grabbed the phone from its receiver and looked down the long list of names and phone numbers. Espio had trouble reading some of the names since Vector's writing is pretty horrible and nearly illegible. Despite the bad handwriting, Espio was able to make out a 'Cail Aura' at the bottom of the list and decided to pick him. He didn't recognize the name, but he knew he wasn't going to recognize most of the names on this list. He had to start somewhere, of course.

He dialed the 7 digits shown on the list and held the phone up to his ear. It rang three times until Espio heard a voice on the other end.

"Hello," a deep voice said.

Espio was hesitant at first, because he didn't know exactly what to say to an old client, but then he figured something out. "Hi, sir. My name is Espio the Chameleon and I'm one of the detectives apart of the detective agency, Team Chaotix."

"Yes, I recognize that name. You're the team that includes the arrogant crocodile. I believe his name was Detective Vector or something like that."

"That's right. He's my… boss." Espio obviously tried to refrain from referring to Vector as his boyfriend, though it seemed awkward calling him 'boss'.

"I remember now. You helped me out a little while ago with a friend of mine. Is there something that you need?"

Espio cleared and said, "We are now reinstating our team and are offering our services again. We would like to know if you or a friend or relative is in need of some kind of detective work done. There's nearly no limit to what we can do."

There was a brief silence but then Cail responded by saying, "As much as I did enjoy your work from before, I'm going to have to pass on this one. I don't currently need your services, nor do I think any of my friends and family need it."

"I see. Would you like me to give you our number just in case any of these circumstances change?"

"Uh, yes. I'm sure that'll come in handy one of these days."

Espio then proceeded to give Cail the 7 digits of their house phone number. He doesn't feel comfortable giving his phone number to strangers, but he knew it was important for their agency to get clients to come back.

"Alright, thanks Espio for the call. I'll be sure to let you know as soon as your services are needed."

"Thank you, sir. Have a good day."

Cail hung up and Espio put the phone back on the receiver. He kind of smiled with his progress. Even though he just talked to only one client, he felt like he did something a little bit different than normal. He now felt as if he had a system for all of the future calls, making things less hesitant for him.

He took a brief look at the list of phone numbers again and picked one for a guy named Odd DellaRobbia. He dialed his number and again got a response on the other end. He repeated the same general process that he used on Cail, and everything turned out just the same. Odd didn't have any specific problems that needed to be dealt with, but he was willing to take their number just in case their services were needed later.

Most of the clients were like this. Some were meaner than others, but Espio didn't allow that to bother him too much. By the end of the hour, Espio had made about 10 calls to clients who didn't currently need their services. He was about to make another call, though Vector came into the office.

"Hey, Vector. How is the pizza coming along?"

"It's good. It's cooking in the oven right now. How are the clients? I hope they weren't too mean to you."

"Some of them were a little… edgy, but most of them were fine and answered my questions without too many issues."

"So… do we have anyone who wants Team Chaotix to help them out?"

"Most of them accepted our phone number, but none of them seemed to want our services yet, if at all."

"That's okay. They don't know what they're missing."

"Well, what are we going to do if we don't get any of our clients to call us back? We're going to have to start from scratch and advertise again."

"Espio, all we have to do is wait. I'm sure you did a great job with calling all of the clients and they probably do want our services, they just don't need them right now."

"I don't know. I'm just not feeling all that confident anymore." Espio sighed, but tried to keep at least some form of optimism with him.

"Well, here. This should boost your confidence a little more." Vector knelt down to get to Espio's level and gave him a nice kiss on the lips, making Espio blush a little. After releasing the kiss, Vector then continued to hug him. "I'm always there for you, alright. We're in this together, right?"

Espio smiled. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I have nothing to worry about."

Vector released Espio and nodded his head. "Okay, that's settled." Vector then heard a light beeping come from the kitchen. "And just in time, too. The pizza is done." Vector left the office and Espio trailed slowly behind him. They both entered the kitchen and Vector pulled a tray out of the oven.

"I'm sure you're going to like this. It's one of my specialties." Vector then presented Espio with the finished product.

Espio had mixed opinions about the pizza. It looked like a pizza with the cheese and sauce and everything, but something looked off about it. Though, it only made Espio chuckle a little.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, your pizza looks amazing and I can't wait to dig in." Espio leaned in to give Vector a kiss. Though, soon after they connected lips, Espio's chest made contact with the extremely hot tray, making him jump back.

Vector put the tray on the counter and went over to examine Espio. "Are you okay? I shouldn't have been holding the tray right in front of you when you were kissing me."

Espio held his slightly burned stomach in his hands and said, "Yeah, well, I shouldn't have kissed you with that tray in your hands in the first place. That was definitely a mistake on my part. Can you get me some water?"

"Sure." Vector got a dry towel and put it under some cold water for a couple seconds. He then returned to Espio and asked him to remove his hands from his stomach. The burn mark was a little red, so it was a little bad, but nothing to worry about.

Vector then gently put the damp cloth on the burnt area, causing almost all of Espio's body to flinch in an odd way. Vector immediately noticed this and grabbed Espio's hand. "It's alright. It's going to hurt a little, but you've dealt with pain before."

"It's been a little long. I have almost forgotten how much I hate him."

"Well, I haven't met anyone who enjoys pain, so I wouldn't blame you if you didn't like this in any way."

Espio chuckled, but his smiled soon faded away when Vector touched his stomach again. This is when Espio thought of what Vector said. He has dealt with much more pain than before, and he never reacted this way. He wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that Vector was here. Though, he didn't wonder too long, because he didn't consider it to be too important.

After Vector put enough water on Espio's stomach, he gave it a little kiss before putting away the wet towel. Even the kiss hurt Espio a little, but he couldn't help but think that the kiss helped alleviate the pain a little.

"You want a Band-Aid for that," Vector asked after putting away the towel.

"No, I think I'm fine. Thanks, Vector."

"Anything for you. Why don't we ignore the pain and dig into this pizza?"

Espio smiled and nodded his head. "I think that's a good idea. How about you put a couple of slices on some plates and I'll go get Charmy for dinner?"

"Alright." Vector pulled out a big, sharp knife that made Espio a little nervous. He didn't want Vector to hurt himself, but he knew he could trust him. He left the room and knocked on Charmy's door.

"Charmy, dinner is ready. Come sit at the dinner table."

Charmy then swiftly opened the door and quickly over to the kitchen where he sat down at the table.

"He must be really hungry," Espio said quietly to himself.

Espio went over to the table and sat down in a chair that was adjacent to Charmy. A minute later, Vector began passing out the plates with 2 slices of pizza on each plate. Though, each slice weren't in a triangular shape like they're normally supposed to be. They actually didn't really form a shape at all, just a bunch of random curves, making for one interestingly-shaped pizza.

"Vector, did something happen when you were cutting these?"

"The knife wasn't working properly and decided to make all of these weird lines all over the pizza. It wasn't my fault in the slightest."

Espio and Charmy just stared at Vector for a brief moment before beginning to laugh. Again, Espio understood that Vector was a good cook, but his antics were funny and good to laugh at. Though, a healthy relationship like there's does need a little bit of laughter. In the future, they're going to be doing it a lot.


	14. Orderly Opportunities

Star-crossed Lovers

Chapter 14 – Orderly Opportunities

Later that night, Espio felt that he couldn't sleep. His stomach was feeling a tad bit queasy, and he was pretty close to just blaming Vector's pizza for giving him food poisoning. Though, he didn't want to jump to conclusions, so he just stayed up and walked around the house for a short time to hopefully settle his uncomfortable stomach. After that didn't work, Espio though that it would be better to just go outside and get some fresh air.

He exited the home and enjoyed the nice night air as it cleansed his fur. He was feeling better already, though he was strongly urged to go to his "spot". The spot where he laid upon the ground, looked up at the stars, and thought about his future. It's where pure serenity was, and Espio felt like he needed that right now, especially with being in a relationship and going to be apart of a detective agency soon. He didn't know what to expect.

He walked for about ten minutes down to his normal Cliffside. It is just as he remembered it from a couple of days ago. He simply laid himself down onto the ground and planted his head into the wet grass. He was comfortable and he had a good view of the stars that night.

After some of his thoughts on the future, Espio began identifying figures from the shapes in the stars. Some of them almost looked like Vector's face. Though, it was actually Vector standing right in front of him, sporting a big smile as he watched his lover lying on the ground.

Vector lied down next to Espio and said, "You never went back to bed. Is there something wrong?"

Espio didn't want to say anything about his sick stomach so he just twisted the truth a little. "I just thought I should get some fresh air and then I found myself walking towards my normal spot."

"Yeah, but this is the normal spot that you go to whenever you are mad at me."

"No, this is the spot that I go to whenever I need to think."

Vector raised his head and looked over to Espio. "What do you need to think about? You seemed pretty happy last night."

"I just need to think about the future. I am new to this relationship thing, and I'm not sure how things will change when we bring back Team Chaotix. I'm so confused about it all, so I just need to… think."

"Espio, I'm new to this whole love thing, too. But it's cool, because I get to be confused with you." Vector paused, hoping to get a response from Espio. When he didn't get one, he continued, "We shouldn't worry about the future. We should just let it happen."

This opened Espio's eyes a little. He was shocked that Vector was teaching him a pretty vital lesson about love and the future. He knew that he loved Vector, no matter what happens. "Wow… I can't believe I'm being so ignorant. I should know something like that."

"You're not being ignorant. You're just… not used to this yet." Vector paused and turned over to his side so that he's facing Espio. "But… I can help you with that." Vector grabbed the back of Espio's head and brought it towards his own. They connected lips in a warm embrace.

The kiss was something new… something special. This kiss in particular exemplified the fact that these two would be with each other for the rest of their lives, despite any obstacles that may get in their way. This kiss shows off a rare kind of love that everyone in Mobius would only dream of having.

Under the stars of the rich and cool night, this kiss brings out the two Star-Crossed Lovers: Vector and Espio.

They both separated that magical kiss and looked into each other's eyes, which glimmered in the moonlight. Espio smiled and said, "Vector. I have never had this before, but I think I can truly say that I love you. I love you a lot."

This made Vector smile as well, making a small tear exit his eye. Thankfully, Espio couldn't see the tear, and Vector would never admit that he cried. "I love you, too, Espio. Why don't we go back home and get some sleep? Who knows, someone could call us tomorrow morning and ask for one hundred missions for a pay of a million dollars."

Espio chuckled and replied, "I don't think it's going to work that way, Vector."

"Hey, it's just a thought. Why rule out something like that?"

"I guess you're right." Espio got up and reached his hand out to Vector. Vector grabbed it and got himself up. "Let's go get that million dollars." Vector chuckled and kept a firm grip on Espio's hand as they walked back to the house.

Upon reaching the home, they silently opened and closed the door in an effort to not wake Charmy up. They went over to Vector's room (or their room) and turned on the lamp before closing the door behind them.

While Vector sat on his bed and kicked off his shoes, Espio looked around the room and saw some of their past memories of Team Chaotix. There were a couple of pictures of their past missions on the walls. "Do you really think that after we start up Team Chaotix again we will be successful?"

"Of course I do, Espio. We just have to wait, you know? All of this can't happen in one night."

"Yeah, I know that, but I just don't think that we will be as good as we were before. This world has changed and people don't need detective agencies much anymore. We also don't have the skills that we used to have."

"Well, then it's alright if we don't get as many customers as before. They're still customers. We'll work to get something out of this agency."

"If you say so."

"I know so."

Espio took off his shoes and properly placed them by the door. He left his gloves and cuffs on, because he felt that it would be appropriate to have them on always. Shortly after Vector went under the covers of the bed, Espio slipped into the bed as well. They both said "good night" to each other and Espio shut off the nearby lamp. They then both began to snuggle into each other's arms.

The next morning, Espio was greeted with the sun as it entered through Vector's window. This, like normal, did not wake Vector up, so Espio decided to go out and start the day early. He briefly went outside of them home and began to meditate. He wanted to get his mind ready for the day, so he thought of the day's events, much like he used to do. This was actually his first meditation session in about a week.

He thought to make some more phone calls to clients and he also wanted to do some chores around the house. He wanted to make himself seem useful since all he has been doing lately is stuff with Vector and Charmy. It almost felt like a… break from his normal routine.

Though, Espio's train of thought was ended when the phone began ringing. He got out of his meditative position and re-entered his home. Espio went over to a nearby table that had a phone on it, and picked it up from its receiver. He hoped that the ringing didn't wake anybody up, though he knew that it did.

"Hello," Espio softly asked into the phone.

"Hi, is this the Team Chaotix Detective Agency?"

Espio's heart then began to speed up, because someone had actually returned his call, even though it has only been a day. "Yes, my name is Espio," he said in a determined voice. "I am one of the detectives."

"My friend Sil recommended me to you guys after I began to experience… problems around my house."

"What kind of problems, sir?"

"I live in Telle Creek, which is right next to Green Hill Zone, and I've been hearing voices echoing through my walls. At first I thought it was just the wind, but I'm almost certain that the voices have said my name on several occasions."

"Do you think your house is haunted?"

"I don't really know what to believe. I normally would just ignore it, but it has gotten to the point where things have been getting… physical."

"Physical?"

"I have fallen down my stairs today three times, and I have only been awake for an hour now. I'm not clumsy at all, but I feel like there's something tripping me, even when I'm holding onto the banister."

Espio kind of figured that this guy was probably being pranked, perhaps with a hidden speaker in the house and a thin string on the stairs. Though, he didn't want to say that to his client, just in case that there is something more happening. And… because Espio really wants a mission. "Would you like us to come out there? We currently have no clients, so our schedule is cleared."

"If you could sometime today, then that would be great. I would like to have a good night's sleep tonight since I have this big interview at a really important job tomorrow."

"Alright, then we will be there as soon as possible. You have our number, so keep us informed if any of these things keep occurring."

"Thank you, Mr. Espio. See you soon."

"Good-bye." Espio then hung up the phone and a big smile grew on his face. He couldn't even believe it himself, but Team Chaotix has gotten their first client since it broke apart several months ago. Espio wanted to start jumping around and celebrating, but he knew that that would be a little inappropriate to start doing. Though, he did end up having someone to celebrate with. Espio felt a hand go onto his shoulder, forcing him to turn around. He saw that the hand belonged to Vector who was smiling as well.

"I heard most of the conversation. Was that… what I think it was?"

"Were you thinking of a call from Sonic to help him fix his plumbing?"

Vector frowned, totally disappointed that it didn't end up being the result that he wanted. "Uh… no."

Espio then chuckled and said, "Well, good. Because it wasn't that. It was a call from Amy to help her fix her plumbing."

"What? I am not doing that even if she hit me with her blasted hammer for 24 hours!"

Espio laughed even harder and finally said, "Alright, I'm just going to stop messing with you. We actually have a client for Team Chaotix!"

Vector actually let out a small gasp which got rid of the slight frustration of actually doing plumbing for Amy. "Not only do I not have to do pipe work for a pink brat, but I have a client to work with? That's…" Vector was a little lost for words. "What does he want us to do?"

Espio briefly summarized what was going on with the guy's house and Vector nodded his head and smiled. "Alright, well let's uncover the kid under the white cloth with 2 eye holes in it and find the thin string that keeps tripping this dude. He is clearly getting pranked."

"That's what I said, but a case is a case, and it seems to be an easy one."

"It sure does. Why don't you wake up Charmy? We have some detective work to attend to and we need the whole gang here in order to do it."

"Yes, sir," Espio said in a militaristic tone. He walked over to Charmy's door and opened it. For some reason, Espio saw that Charmy was already putting his shoes on and was getting ready for something. "Charmy, are you going somewhere?"

"Yes, I'm going with you guys. I heard everything and I want to find some ghosts. I knew they were real!"

Espio rolled his eyes a little, but he didn't mention the fact that he thinks that the guy is being pranked. He thought it would be appropriate for Charmy to know that ghosts aren't entirely real, but he allowed Charmy to have a little bit of an imagination while he was young. He'll soon learn that some things in life aren't real.

"Then let's get going. We're going to do some ghost-hunting."


End file.
